Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1872-04-23
Written for the HER,LD)
Palmer's Trout Nursery at Boscobel

In the Spring of 1869, Mr.. Alfred
Palmer, of this place, came to the
conclusion that artificial trout-eult--
ure could be made a success in Bos-
cobel as we'll as at the East. He
therefore purchased the Matt. Ward
Farm" on Crooked Creek, one mile
south of this village, and Immediate
ly put to work men enough to con-
struct in a short time a pond and
house suitable for the enterprise
Pond No. l, the largest, has capacity
for holding 5000 or 10, 900 full grown
trout. This pond is fed from a spring,
the water OF which is beautifully and
perfectly translucent. The spring is
at the base of hill, about three feet
above the level of the water in the
ponds. This spring is very large, and
is capable of containing tar more than
its present stock of trout There are
assures in the rocks through which
the water flows into the spring, that
afford fine hiding places for the fish,
there being some ia there now that
have not been seen for two wears. -
Trout that are put in there can not
be used to advantage, so it will no
longer be made 10 serve its present
purpose.
Mr.. Palmer, ut the beginning of
this work, had but small propagat-
ing house built, but has since been
obliged To construct new one hav-
ing three times the capacity of the
old, fitted up after the most APPROX
ed trout raising plan. Mr.. Palmer
devotes his whole attention this bus
mess, attending to the spawning and
breeding, transferring the fish from
one department to another, seeing
that trout of about the same size and
age are together, etc., etc.
The process of br, eding trout in an
artificial manner is qaite novelty.
After the fish have been artificially
spawned, (Which is done By gently
rubbing the hand along the bell Y
from the head back ward), the spawn
is put into the hatchiug tro ughs,
table>shaped, standing about two #.
from the floor, feet wide, Is feet
long and 1 inches deep, with divi-
sions at intervals of about feet
These boxes are filled to the depth of
/ or inches with fine gravel, upon
which the spawn is placed. Over
this constant stream of clear cold
water is kept flowing throughout the
whole season of propagation, lasting
during the months Of November, De-
cember, and January. After the egg
have become trout, they are taken
carefully out Of tho boxes and placed
into pond purposeIy arranged for
them. The fish are about an inch |
long when taken from the breeding
boxes, and have rather a large head.
They are fed with frozen cream, an
article OF food discovered by Mr.. p,
and claimed TO be the best ever u.s.
ed. Cream that is not frozen spreads |
like oil when placed upon the water,
and is not very beneficial as food, but
when frozen and thrown upon the
water it dissolves or breaks into par
ticles which are readily eaten by the
fish, and Hothing is lost or wasted
The larger trout are fod with raw
meat-generally liver chopped fine.
1t is an animaling sight, the fnny |
multitudes darling hither and thith-
or to find the food that Is thrown up
on the water for them.
The ponds as we'll as the trout are
seen from the road that passes near
by. There are now in the three |
ponds and spring about $4,000 trout,
mostly small ones, but also many
that will weigh well into three lbs.
Mr.. Palmer went TO New York
State three years ago, for the special
purpose of making a study of artiti
cial trout culture. He learned many |
things which are of the greatest val
uc to him now.
A large number Of trout lave been
sold from these ponds to stock the
waters Of culturists in Iowa and this
State. Regular shipments of trout
will be made from Boscobel TO Mil
waukee and Chicago this summer,
where customers stand ready to pur-
chase at any price. Many people go |
to visit the ponds almost daily. Mr..
Palmer is the first who made artIfi-
cial trout.breeding experiments in
this country west of New York.
1t may not be generally known
that the artificial spawning of fish
was discovered in France about 20
years ago. q
BosCoREI Aprii. 1872.