New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-08-04
THE GOVERNMENTS WISE WORK

bassy TO Maryland, this entry, under the date OF
thursday, October 2. 1852 4" On leaving the river
| (Elkl we heard heavy firing on Colonel Uucs
! Island, otherwise called --, which we presumed
must have proceeded from fifty to sixty men; u was
mingled with music. THIS lasted until night; so
that we coujectured they were making ready TO 20
TO the South River"
The negro ferryman at the ferry between the mann
land and the head of the island has considerable
local celebrity for lazness and the ingenuity ne
shows in escaping the duties of his position. HIS
frame house stands the mainland, short DIS
lance from the forty landing. l leaned over his
garden gate and called him. After long delay, he
came out to the road, trcading carefully with his
bare feet.
81 want to go over to The island"
"Who dye want TO see ~
"Mr. Simmons"
"YOuug or ole I'm ~
The effect OF my answer the young one" nearly
made an end of the proposed visit there and then.
MutterIng lie jess come of,' the darkey turned
abruptly ABOUT, reclimbcd the hill. and If l had
wasted two minutes in wonder, would have
gone to bed again L brought him reluctantly back
by shouting:
Hold up; we'll 60 and see the old man." bow
slowly and carefully be handled the oars! How
often he rested to ask some question like this:
"Be'en't you one Of the Suivans ~ Or " 'spect,
now, yOu'so gwine to see Miss ---P spoken in-
terrogatIyely aud on being told that was married,
he SAID. with rising infection in his tone of voice,
that expressed both surprise and doubt, " Iou is =
DefOe's description of Il life upon an island Is IN
teresting reading and no doubt most people az some
period between childhood and old age have Thought
that they would like to try such life for a short
time at least There is a little community upon
\ 1 lltrIl nIl
three farms on which the owners live, ana there ara
some tenant houses for the farm hands and Usher
men. generally negroes. Said Mr.. simmons: q" We
have everything Te want here but blacksmith
shop; if we had that there would be no occasion for
leaving the island. In this loan raise vegetables
as early as they can be raised az Norfolk, 200 miles
south of us. Our market is yOnder wharf; there We
haul our grain it Is loaded a vessel and in four
hours, with good WIND, Is III Baltimore ulIIy
miles to the south. From there the vessel brings US
our barrels of coffee, sugar, etc. our mail, ana
paper of pms or a yard of ribbon" In the Fall the
canvas-back ducks come to the Chesapeake by the
thousands and there Is no better ducking shore
than Spesutia Island. Sometimes during the Win
ter, when the winds are high and the waters roll
through the narrows in great waves that would
swamp the ferry scow. or when there Is covering
Of ice upon the narrows thick enough to impede the
on a Summer day when the ferryman falls into an
unusually sound sleep, communication between the
island and the mainland Is cut off entirely. But II
is not more famous as duckIng shore y than rs
fishing shoreD The shad are becoming scarce in
the Chesapeake Here on both shores OF the bay,
and on both sides of the Susquehanna River, fishing
used to be carried on prohtably with seines whose
length was measured IN miles. On many OF these
shores fishing has been entirely abandoned, and tins
year elsewhere the fishing was done Mt an expense
that amounted to more than the profits. MIR. Sim
rnon.,s fishing shore on the middle farm Spesutia
Island proved an exception to the general rule.
This Spring in haul he caught 1900 siad, the
largest one-haul catch IN many years. The largest
haul ho ever made at the shore was upon an evening
about four years ago. when the fishermen worked
all night in packing away the fish. BY morning.
when all hands were utterly tired ont, they had
counted 500 barrels OF herring and POO shad, ana
still the shore was st ewn with tsh like the leaves
on the strand" Every one had many fish as he
wanted without cost, and they could not be kept
the rest went upon the land as manure.
Five wears ago Congress made an appropriation,
and n commission was appointed for the purpose of
Matching shad to be set free IN rivers in different
parts of the United States. This Matching has been
carried on here In the narrOws Ii was first begun
in a small way as an experiment. which resulted IN
n success and now millions of shad are Matched
each season The process of Matching is simple
one The female shad is generally ready TO spawn
toward the latter part Of May. the time of spawn
ing changing according to the warmth of the season
This year the fish spawned very late. The water
has been cold, and fishermen say that they caught
fish early in July which were just ready TO spawn.
Mr. Ferguson an ex-COnfedrrate MAYOR, and SON
In-aw If ext Governor Swami, Is now at the head OF
tbe United States Fish Commission. The men en-
gagged In the work of Matching are provided with 2
steam launch and several small boats In the small
boats they follow the ullers linen VINO are ilsh-
ing for shad-and get from them The female snad
that are about 10 spawn. If under gentle pressure
of the hand the comes from the 1Sh lt IS IN the
required condition. Sometimes only one out of
ninety-iye fish tried will be just ready to spawn.
The average number of eggs taken from a spawner
i'm this way is about 10000. / ne largest number
ofeggs ever obtained from one fish was $4,000. The
milt Is then taken from the male fSn and placed IN
a Tin vessel with the eggs, the mllt from one male
answering for the eggs OF three females. Formerly
the eggs were then taken TO the hcOW ana placed IN
tin cans hung upon wooden arms over the BOAT SIDE,
which were kept constantly moving up ana down
in the water by means OF steam. the Object being to
allow a constant current Of water to EN- er the cans
through SIEVE bottom The same object - no"
attained by means of better and more ingenious
apparatus. The eggs with tue INIT are paced IN
c0nIcal-shape tia cans winch have a small sieve
bottom, through Wn'eh constant current Oh water
Is forced upward By steam, the water escaping
above. The only AT ientlOu the young fish require
tney become young fish almost as soon as toe milt
and eggs unite Is this supply of fresh water Nature
does the 1t requires from two TO SIX days for
the eggs to hatch 300, 900 IS the average number
of eggs obtained from the fish IN one night, but not
all of these upon coming in contact with the milt,
become sAad. The imperfect can be dlstIn-
uulshed by their peculiar color and the position
tney take ia the water When the young fish can
be seen swimming about ia the cans they are placed
IN other cans shaped like tine ordinary milk can.
and, i'm charge OF men attached TO the Commission,
are shipped TO other AT the emu OF ten days
the isn are about OuU-tuird of an inch IN length,
and they will not 1--we in the cans much longer
than days. that there Is just sufficient time 20
take Them by rdIl across the continent. The tenn
perdturo of the water IN che cans must never be