The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-11-13

| car IN Troy. III came up over Jne west
Shore road and got into Troy too late to
come on with the morning tram, as had
been planned. This was unfortunate, as
| there was no opportunity to change the
water in the tanks, and the fish had been
in the car little over "a hours, or about
! fl re hours longer than had been expected.
The men had begun putting the fish in
cans, ready for loading on the wagons
while on the way from Troy, and half
| dozen cans were filled when the car
reached there.
Mr.. Cheney said that the young salmon
had stood the journey in the cars good
deal better than had been expected. Out
of the whole $500 there were only seven
dead ones found in the tanks on arrival
and these had been caught in the
| gratings. "This is an experiment." said
Mr.. Cheney. "a few years ago an at
| tempt was made to introduce salmon fry
into the Hudson, but that was not sue
cess. The United States Fish Commits
sion brought 20,000,000 eggs from Cali
fornia and sent l 100000 of them to New
York State. Out of 1000 that Matched
100000 fry were distributed in streams
that flow into the Hudson in lots of 200 to
27,000. These were all fry that had just
been Matched and they were devoured by
the fish in those streams. Since then it
was decided to try the experiment of
planting fish that were bred until big
enough to take care of themselves, and
this is the first lot of this kind that has
been sent out. They are nine months
old, and as you can see, they are pretty
good size"
MI Cheney showed the seven dead
fish which had been taken from the
tanks. They were all four Inches or
more in length. Some of those in the
tanks were fully seven inches long. They
were a pretty fish, with dark backs and
sivery white underneath The trout
fishermen who came down to the car ex-
amined them with a good deal of inter-
est. They were bigger than any one
had expected. Their appearance was
generally compared with the trout, and
the points of difference that were often
est noted were the absence of spots, the
shape of the TAIL which was broader and
stronger than that of the trout, and the
size and shape CT the mouth.
The fish were carried in tanks under
the middle of the car. There were %
tanks in all, and they were reached
through trap doors in the car floor, The
fish were taken out of the tanks with
scoop nets, and put in big cans, some
thing like milk cans, with holes in the
cover for ventilation. These cans were
about two-thirds filled with water be-
fore the fish were put in. The cans
were loaded into the wagons which were
waiting. Ten cans were put into the
first wagon. Mr.. Cheney went with this
load to Green river. Three cans were
put in each of the other two wagons and
taken to Benedict brook. Mr.. Ellis and
Mr.. Warner went with these two loads.
The operation of planting the fish was
the fact that the planting ground had
been selected before hand. The teams
went mile or SO up Benedict brook.
On reaching one of the places picked out
can was taken from the wagon and
emptied into the brock. In every case a
fair sized pool of still water was selected
aud the can emptied quickly but care
fully. The water was roilly for minute
or two, and then as it cleared the young
salmon were seen swimming around in
lively manner. There was careful
watch kept for dead fish. These came
to the surface Immediately and were
Immediately and readily found. Less
Less than dozen dead ones were found
in this lot.
1t was almost dark when the teams
got back from the first trip. Mr.. Che
ney was delighted with his work. He
reported only six dead fish out of the
1900 that he planted in Green river and
these were in the first can opened. Mr..
Cheney left for home on the o'clock
train.
The rest of the fish were planted in
Matteson and Deming brooks, under the
direction of Mr.. Warner, aud all the
empty cans were returned to the car be-
fore $50 o'clock. Out of the entire g.
800 there were less than 80 dead fish re-
ported.
Mr.. Ellis was delighted with the sue
cess of the work so far. He said it was
much better than he could expect and
the percentage of dead fish was remark
ably small. Mr.. Ellis has general charge
of the distribution of fish by the govern
ment and makes his headquarters in
Washington. He was sent with the car
on this trip because Col. Macdonald was
particularly interested in its success. A
while ago the government sent out 90
600 fish and 10000 died on the way.
but there was no need of my coming on
this trip" said Mr.. Ellis. "Mr. John
son has done first rate. No one could |
have done better than he has, and he de- |
serves credit for the good showing made |
on this occasion"
Mr.. johnson is the captain of the car,
and is modest looking young man with |
a business air who acts as if he knew
what he was abont. He superintended |
the transfer of the fish in person and put |
in busy afternoon.