The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-09-07
FISH CULTURE.
Stocking Streams and Lakes with
the Finny Tribe.
Work Of tho United States Fish Com
mission for the Past Year.


Washington Telegram to Chicago Tlmes.l
At the last session OF Congress there was
appropriated for carrying on the work OF
the United States Fish Commission In all its
forms-for propagating fish, distributing
them, studying them ut sea, with the assist
ance Of steamers and steam launches, col
lectdng statistics, preparing portraits of dis
tinguished fish for the annual report Of the
Commissioner, etc-s236, 500. OF course it
Is the stocking Of rivers and lakes that at
tracts the most attention to the Commits
sion, but this Is far from being the whole or
most expensive part Of its work. The dis
srl6nsion , Of Esh during the past year
by wise and liberal Government to sup
ply future generations of Americans
with unlimited supplies Of brain food For
example take the distribution Of the highly
bone-iferous shad and herring. fish whose
meat will certainly stimulate the mind IL
the eater has good luck and does not get
choked to death with the bones In the
season OF 1883 there were sent out by the
commission l., A, =. 100 shad and q, $50, 900 her.
ring. OF these SOC 900 shad were put into
the Illinois river at Peoria the same number
were put In the same river az Havana, and
$4,000 herring were put into the same
stream at Peoria Then take that excellent
article OF food, the lake whitefish. In the
season Of 1888 the Commission planted
20t,WO OF them in the Minnesota waters,
At Sulphur, Mich, 2.0OO.OO0 were
put into Lake Huron; at Grand Haven
1000, COO Were put into Lake Michigan; at
Alpena, Mich 3, zoe, 900 were put into Lake
Huron; ut North Point, Mich. Z, 900, 600 were
put into the same lake; at Ludington, Mich.
svxtr LIB Lob Al
other 2 ZOO, 90 were put into the same lake
at PetoskeX Then z,OOO,COJ went into Lake
Huron at Black river, 4, COO 600 went into
Lake Michigan at Milwaukee and Keposha,
2,OOO, 900 went into Lake Huron at Cscoda
100000 went into Lake Superior at Mar
quette, 100000 were put into Long lake,
Mich Another 5000, O0J went into Lake Su-
perior at EAnse. Lake Huron got another
1000, eco at Partridge Point Lake Michigan
got another 1000, 0O0 at Michgamme Lake
Michig ANNE got zoo. GOO, and Lake Michi-
gan came in for another Zoo, 900 at Milwau-
kee.
In all, 45, 80, 900 whitefsh fry and II $50 coo
whitehsh eggs were distributed The de-
tails already given show that Lake Huron
got - 00O, 900 fish, Lake Michigan II ,0C0, 000,
and Lake Superior 1000, 000 There were
nlso put into Lake Ontario 9. 600, 600 and into
Lake Erie 5000 00l The Commissions sta
ton at Alpena supplied 81, COO of these
little whitefish OF the eggs, the Minnesota
State Commission took 5000 0C0-almost
half The North Carolina State Commission
took 225, O0O the California State Commits sion
$50, 90, the Pennsylvania State Commission
2,0t 600, and the New York State Commission
l,00O,OOO Over 600 900 went to Germany,
and POO, 0O0 to Paris
OF the total appropriation mentioned
above it is specified that SO, 900 shall be ap-
piled to the production and distribution OF
carp. This nsh was first sent South where
nj ror,if hon in orr nrf
waters Already plenty of carp weighing
from five to seven pounds are being caught
in Southern ponds and lakes. In the North
they have not as yet had time to reach fry
ing size. That the desire to cultivate them
is rapidly increasing is shown by the fact
that In 1879, t,&0j fish were given to 273 ap-
plicants in lSl localities; in 1870, II, 443 fish
were given To ,374 applicants, in az local
tiles In addition TO the numbers of fish given
above, 4.74I IN 1879 and lq, Cpl in 1850 were
given to State Fish Commis sions In
1881, li5. SO fish We're given to ., 55S apph-
cants and l. 4 poor applicants never got a
fish. in 1882, 2j9,lSS nsh were given to
e,S72 applicants who lived in ,47S counties
and 2S1 Congressional districts This shows
that last year the carp had been spread
pretty thoroughly over the United States
o. last years distribution. more than B. coo
went to X ntucky, more than ~, 600 to
Georgia, 15,C0J to Missouri r., 600 TO Illinois,
"a lew more to Indiana and 600 to Mis-
sissippL North Carolina got -, C0), Ohio
ll,OVO, Pennsylvania nearly 1900, South
Carolina l0,t0I Texas nearly 1900, and
Virginia 1000.
These are not all the fish cultivated by the
Commission, but they are the principal
ones The only purely ornamental fish that
is cultivated is the goldfish in several varie-
ties
The Commission is experimenting with
the golden ide, German fish, like the carp,
m nrnn II of MI 10 a N
experimenting with the English trench,
but has not yet got e.. ugh to distribute.
In regard TO the carp IL should have been
said that it has taken about all the Commits
sion could raise thus far TO supply the indi-
yidual applicants, by whom the fish are put
in private ponds, but the fish will live in
rivers and last year Mr.. Marshall MacDon-
aid who has charge OF the distribution of
the fish, planted three lots in rivers
The co t of producing million shad used
to be from 500 to 500, but it is now only
$50. Shad, herring and whitefish are
planted with no expense to any one. In
the case of carp, the applicant must pay the
express charges from the nearest point at
which the Government carp-car stops
Some other fish the Commission has
produced in small quantities. Last year
there were produced about l,0O2, 600 Penob-
scot salmon, which were distributed in the
Hudson river and the streams of the Maine
and Delaware, and .0o 600 California trout
Were produced and distributed in small lots
among State Fish Commissions. Some OF the
California trout were puJ into the head wa
ters of the New, Potomac, Roanoake. and
Tennessee rivers, in an effort to naturalize
them. Two hundred thousand brook trout
were produced and distributed in the
streams near the hatcheries. over ,00o, 600
Lake trout w re produced, most of which
went into Michigan waters, though 10000
Of them went 10 Germany, and 5000 to
France Finally there were sOl 600 land
locked salmon, which were distributed in
the waters of New England and the Middle
and extreme Western States