Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1879-03-26
Seth Green's Discoveries.
The Great Piscicuituist Tells .7bom
artificial Fish Propagation.

nave OltSn DeSn questioned as 10
what prompted me to venture INTO
fish culture To make a long story
short, 1 have been engaged in the
fishing business since j was a boy
In 1888 l fished with set hooks and
line for salmon trout in Canada, and
in that year / made discovery that
afterwsrd proved to be the turning
point Of nay life. One day while fish
ing, az usual, in a stream called Ben
Head Greek, IN the Queens domin-
ions, my attention was attracted to
the singular movements OF a female
salmon trout. / noticed that she
made hole in the bottom of the
stream with her tail and saw that she
covered it up again. Creeping up
close to the bank, 1 reached tree,
and unobserved secured a foothold
among Its branches, giving me clear
view of the water Here l sat for
more than a day, and saw the female
fish repeat this action so frequently
that L became fully satisfied in my
own mind that this was their mode of
casting their spawn and milt, and
that rapidly running spring water
was their usual resort for this pur
pose I resolved that at some future
day would utilize the information l
had gained and throw aside my rod
and line Well. in 1864, at Caledo-
MIA Greek. this State-the present
location of the State fish-hatching
establishment-I made a successful
venture in artificial Matching. / first
took some spawn of the trout and
used the same method that every
body else had tried, as far as 1 had
heard placed it in a vessel and
filled it one-third or one-half full of
water, and then stripped the milt in
and stirred it with the fish's tail, be-
cause it was soft and as it was the
style then in vogue. The tempera-
ture of the water l used was between
81 and 81 degrees. At the end of
sixteen days 1 could tell which eggs
were and which were not impregna-
ted. 1 counted several hundred
spawn, and found twenty-five per
cent. impregnGted. l informed an
acquaintance of what l had done, and
he said it was as good as was ever
done in any country. l was little
discouraged, and said l would not
stay in the Matching business if l
could not do better. At night 1
thought it over, and during the in
tervai / examined the milt under the
microscope and watched the little an
imalcu,e, and supposed that in their
movements they went into the egg.
l then said to myself, suppose l do
not use so much water: suppose L do
not use it all Next morning L got
some spawn and milt, and did not
use any water, but sifted it down and
covered it all over with milt and let
it stand five to eight minutes, and
then added a little water to 1t, and IN
about ten to fifteen minutes more
added a little more water, and at the
end Of half an hour washed them off
and put them IN the Matching appa-
ratus, and in sixteen days l counted
hundreds and hundreds of spawn,
and had ninety-fve per cent impreg
mated. L did not tell anybody about
it for three years. Such was my be
ginning. In 1867 l artiticially hatch
ed l5,0O0,G00 shad, and had stocked
the Connecticut river ID June of that
wear. In 1S7I as many shad were
caught in one day and had been
caught IN any one year in twenty
years. In 1868 L placed 5,OO0,OOO
young shad in the upper Hudson at
Castleton and at Catskill, and have
followed it up with the same number
yearly. They have done wonderfully
well, and so have the fishermen, as
there are ten now where there was
one then.
Preserve the spawn while in the
egg, and the fish when young and
unable to swim, and all viii be well.
This is done to a great degree by ar
tifcial Matching. Not more than one
In 1000 is saved when Matched in the
natural way, owing to the attacks
made on the young by all kinds OF
insects and water animals. Shad
drop down into brackish water in the
fall of the first years growth The
second year they seek the sea, and
probably one-half return In the third
year. The fourth year they fully
mature. Last year L sent lib black
bass to California, and SO reached
their destination in good condition
These were used to stock the small
lakes, and L expect that they will do
it well The shad placed in the Sac
ramento river have thriven and IN
creased beyond my hopes.
The key III making a success IN
stocking our waters with fish is IN
putting each kind in the water that
is suitable for them. There is as
much sense in sowing wheat on the
bare shingles on the top OF a house
as to putting fish in the wrong water.
Brook trout are only suitable for
clear, cold water, of which the tenn
perature never goes above 20 degrees
Salmon trout VIII live only in clear,
cold, deep lakes. They need the
purest water of any fish in this coun-
try. 1 have put brook trout, salmon
trout, greyling, California and Ken
nebeck salmon and California brook
trout in large aquaria, and as the
water became warm the salmon trout
began to suffer first, and died before
the mercury went up to IA degrees.
The brook trout went next, the grey
ling next, California brook trout
fourth. the Kennebec fifth, and the
California salmon last. The salmon
trout died twelve hours before any of
the rest. and ali of the others died
within four hour hours of each other.
All of the fall spawing fish want
clear. cold water. White hsh VIII
not live in water above ~ degrees.