The Penn's Grove record., 1888-03-10

A. StAh 'ANthH
The slad is without doubt one Of
the most va liable food fisi.eS found in
the water OF the United States. IL
the year lo67, l made the discovery
how to hatch theE artiiicially in large
numbers. the iirst success being achiev.
ell al the Holyoke Dam, Massachusetts
on the Connecticut River. Up to that
time il was thought that AN immense
schOal OF sllad rOamed about in the
oceah, and that early in the spring Of
the year this schoal struck IN at the
rivers OF Florida, on the Atlantic coast
and seilt u portion Of Its numbers up
each stream that empties into the
ocean, from Florida to Maine. There
are still some PERSONS who believe this
to be true, but, while it is a fact that
fish are endowed with more intelligence
than they are generally given credit
FOL, ii is hardly reasonable to suppose
that they are possessed of sufficient
iorethought to divide themselves up 50
It's to send II proper number up each
tributary as they progressed. The Ill
correctness vi his theory was not posi-
lively demonstrated until after the
young fry had been planted IN the wa
teis OF the Connecticut and Hudson
rivers IN large numvers, and then il
wa5 found that only those rivers we've
beieiii ted III which the fish were artIii.
cially propaga.ed, while in TIE water
courses TO the north aud south of these
the sllad still continued To diminish.
AS ! have stated above, the first riv-
er in which sliad was lIatcled, success
tIllN EylG tttA tho (tIhx..itntaf a.
1867. Three years from that timr-
which is the Z at which siiad reach
maturity the iarges, catches we've
made that have even been recorded in
the history Of the river, AS show by the
report OF the Commissioners Of Fisher
les o, the Stale OF Connecticut, publish
ed in 1871. IT is stated that in The
ytaI 1870 there were three Thousand
five hundred and sixty Shad taken al
ole draft of the SeIIe, and that dur
ing the Whole season the take Of Silad.
unpiecedente tiy large. Previous
To this time tue largest numbers record
ed as taken at Il single haul of the
seine was IN the year 1911, when two
Thousand Two hundred and eighty were
caught, and in 1902 when two tiiOus-
6tiu ttitVC iiulittttt Ntlt Sdptultu at
one haul. Thus it las Lecome evident
that the slad return at the end of
three years time To the rivers in which
they are reared. The same was found
to be the case in the Hudson and 9TH
eT rivers III which they have been hatch
ed by tae artificial process.
The question may arise III the minds
of ON OF my young readers, why do
the sllad ascend The rivers 10 spawn,
and why 90 they not ieilam in the
ocean the entire year. The reason is
that they are migratory ill their habits,
tllt same as are DUCKS and gtese, and
their object is To lind il suitable place
IN thu head waters Of ttt rivers in
which Ia cast tlirli spawn. When
!lIeir il'Ward course Is not checked by
imutssailr fails or dams they will 90
up into the head waters, and they new
Ell rest u,ilil they have III last ascrntled
far noagi, Ia gel beyond ;iie SAT- or
brackish waters Of tie river. They
then choose The rocky reels on which
10 cast their spawn. II is the nature
of the fish To perform This al night, and
ii is at IiIis time they are captured by
fishermen with the seine, and The
spawn t ken from them for artificial
fertilization.
The slIad are MT natives in the va
tiers of The PACIFIC Coast ind were not
known there previous 10 my trip in the
year 1871, with a shipment OF them,
whIctr | deposited in the head waters
OF Sacramento River. In 1874 shad
weighing three and nne-ilalf pounds
We're taken i'll that rlyer, and they have
for II number of years past been quot
ed regularly in the California markets.
The average sliad taken in the Eastern
waters weighs from three to four
pounds, and I have heard of SOME
weighing eight pounds, but to Cali
furniu belongs the homer VI producing
ing the heaviest iisi, of this species yet
recorded, namely, nine and p%rre-quar-
Ter pounds. Ian. ~.igricniturist.