The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-04-08
GhtGittelEiQel1t1utft
THE FISH QUESTION SETTLED,

bkOChGO kA0 AghgANAAAl WAN OAAu
Bass.--AccOunt Oflthe Bass and as
Habits. .latalsE Parf|
We are indeBtedto Mr.. ALEX. EoSF,
of this city, fora copy otthe Smithsonian
Report for 1854, containing on pages ESQ
90 the following paper by his father, DR..
JOHN EoFF. It Is not only interest
ing as tho most complete account Of f'the
black bass and lis habits, eyerpublished,
but as settling beyond dispute, the ques-
tlon who stocked the Potomac with bass
from the Ohio river. ,.,g ,n IN,
ON TIE HABITS FTHE BIAcK nAss OF TIE
OHIO (GRYsTEs FAsctATus). ' II
by John Eeg, NJ d., Of RhesliaO.i
On my return from o small hunting ex.
pedition to the headwatersofSa Sand Greed,
jackson county, Virginia, I found your
kind letter Of November. 26thsand, In order
10 comply best with your wishes and
views therein expressed, / viii give you
such description Of one particular spe-
cies Of fish (which ! consider the most
valuable on account Of their quality as d
pan.tish and their quantity in our West.
ern streams, viz: the bass, (called by the
early settlers In the Western country,
yellow or black perch). They are re.
markably active. and Eoracious sflsh, with
o large and hard mouth, and, vary in size,
according to their age, from three.quarters
Of pound TO three pounds, and OCCASION
ally have been caught TO weigh as high as
six pounds or seven pounds, Their food,
when small, appears to be all
kinds Of insects (flees, worms, &c.s when
larger, though not entirely leaving Of
their earlier habits, their principal food is
the smaller fish Of other kinds. In the
winter season, they retire to deep and still
water, and apparently hide under rocks,
logs, &C., and remain there until the first
OF April, when they come out and begin
to ascend the streams, apparently to find
q convenient place OF spawningl which
commences about the 18th Of May, vary
ing some little according to the warmth
OF the season, &c. When that event Is
about to take place, they appear TO sepa-
rate into pairs, male and female, and hunt
out some retired place or nook where the
water Is about eighteen inches deep and
still, but adjoining deeper water, to which
they can escape II alarmed. They there
commence making their nests-that is,
washing all the mud, &C., of the bottom,
so as TO leave It perfectly clean, In
a circular form, the diameter Of the
circle Tor nest) being about twice
the length Of the fish; after
which the female begins depositing her
eggs, which appear to become glued to
the bottom, or small stones, in rows, after
the deposit has taken place, She remains
night and day either on the nest or swim.
ming round about 1t, apparently guarding
the eggs, and driving every other smaller
fish away. This watching or guarding
continues until the eggs arewhat is called
hGtched, which occurs in eight or ten days,
according to the temperature Of the
water. The young fish at first remain
near the bottom, and appear like q gauze
veil floating. In two or three days they
gradually rise and spread; the old one
leaves them; they separate, and each one
shifts Tor himself, g. O., hides under leaves,
small sticks and stones. ~ rgyI Il p
i, as yet, have had no positive means
Of determining the precise time for, a.
young bass to arrive at maturity, but sup.
pose It to be three years, from the follow
Ing facts: In the spring Of tho year
(ApriD you may find large numbers Of
young bass about two or two and half
inches in length, rather in company with
other minnows. In the following autumn
and fall OF the year you will find very
few Of that size; but congregated together
and alone you will find q number from
three TO, four inches in length; while, du1
ring the same fall you may catch
young bass Of about eight inches
long, with the formation Of the young
egg within them preparatory for spawn.
ing the following spring. In the spawn
ing season you will find large number OF
nests Of small bass, the bass being ten or
eleven inches long, which I have always
concluded were three years old. Hence,
from the above iacts, you will perceive
that the bass Of four western country are
and, at the same time, can bel
easier transferred, and in greater quaint.
ties, from one stream TO another, than
almost any other fish, All that is neceS.
sary to supply. a pond with any quantity,
would be to examine their nest at the
time they are spawning, and TO pick up
the small gravel out OF their nests, with
the eggs attached thereto, and put them
in bucket Of water, and place them in
your pond inlsuchi O position that smaller
fish could not devour the eggs; and In al
short time they would hatch, and the
young ones would help themselves. Or,
TO secure a larger quantity in q short
time, wait until the young are Matched
and are in innumerable quantities sus.
pended over the nest, then, with piece
ot gauze net, dip them up and empty
them In vessel containing as much pure
water. aswill sustain them until you can
convey them toyour pond, and then, rs /
before observed they can support them:
selves while young on insects, &c, Or,
carly In April or May, II you are fond OF
angling, you can 90 toia stream In which,
there are plenty, and in catching fifteen
or twenty, will almost always get nearly
one half the number smaller ones. Put
these intoyour pond unhurt, and, Us they
have not spawned that season, they wifi
soon stock the water. Then all that re-
mains to be done is to supply your pond
with other small tlsh-minnows, &c.-Ifor
food lOr tho large bass, and they will in.
crease. 10 quantity just In proportion to-
their supply of food, Hence 4 am Sails
fled that II farmer would convert one
acre Of his land into a pond well supplied
with fresh water, that acre would raise
and support more fish yearly (the value OF
which would be mOre) than my other
two acres cultivated in any other manner
1.-The expense Ol cultiVaLinr deducted