Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1898-09-15

| from the brook trout Unlike most fish
| they begin to spawn as early as Octo-
| Der and finish in January when
| other species begin. Trout can
best be propagated by taking
| the eggs from the fish and Matching
them artificially in trays placed in run
ming water Not so the bass. The lat
| ter are better mothers. They hatch out
their eggs better than man can do it.
! They stay round the nest of eggs like
| a hen and run with the young and pro-
| tect them until they are big enough to
! care for themselves. The trout leaves
her eggs to hatch themselves, or per-
haps turns round and eats them.
Formerly at the Madison hatchery the
! trout were provided with artificial
runs" - shallow, secluded gravelly
| places whittier nature drove them to
lay their eggs. This is the habit of all
| fish. 1t explains why fish make their
way up rivers, and why salmon will
| leap up over high dams to reach the
quiet headwaters and creeks. The tenn
| perature is more favorable for eggs,
and when the young are Matched they
are more protected from big fish which
would eat them. FRY" are planted in
the little creeks for this reason.
Seventy-Five Per Cent. Hatch.
But at the hatchery the new plan is
| to gather up the fish in the spawning
| season in nets. From those which are
| ripe" the spawn is extracted by
| gentle pressure of the head. Over these
eggs is poured the discharge obtained
| from the male fish. In nature q great
part of the eggs are deposited by the
| females and never impregnate. Thus
man improves upon nature. Seventy
| five per cent. of the eggs hatch.
| There are at Madison now 10000 fish
over year old, and these will furnish
! the fry" for the coming season The
! older the fish, the more eggs she pro-
duces, and fish are retired at the hatch
cry only by reason of death. The death
rate, too is small. The egg of the black
bass is very small-nothing but Millero
| boiling cloth will hold it. When
Matched each fish has an egg sac, on
which it feeds by absorption for from
sixty to eighty days. But the growth
of the young fish is astonishing. l
! saw one pan filled with fish Matched
! out in January. They averaged
inches in length and some were inches
| long.
There are some private hatcheries in
the state which produce fry for sale
| to stock private streams. The state
| fish are supposed to go only to public
waters. Private preserves for the sale
of fish to the city markets usually fail,
! because the fish eat their heads Off"
| The private hatcheries at Hudson, Os-
ceola &c. Hansons) and at Clam Falls,
! Washburn county captain knopp's),
are the largest. There is a smaller one
at Fairchid.
! The small fish are measured in a pan.
| A bit of water is poured in and the
| bottom covered with fry or fish.
! These are counted. A bread-making
pan holds perhaps 1.5G0 fry" With
/ this as Il measure an order is readily
! filed. To illustrate the difference in
! size of brook trout and white bass eggs:
a dipper that will hold 4,500 Of the for
mer will hold 900 of the latter. At
the hatchery are shown eggs preserved
in alcohol. In those about to hatch
one readily sees the eggs, the head and
| the abundant food sac.
Science and Sick Fish.
! Fish occasionally get sick and die,
as if affected by a pestilence Some
years ago the perch in Lake Mendoza
\
entists had their theories, but the rem
edies for fish disease are not readily
Forthcoming and more difficult of APP
plication. The strangest part was that
the following season there seemed to
be as many perch in Mendoza as ever.
Nature is benefciently lavish.
We walked about the sixty acres 1t
is a beautiful spot and a favorite place
! fin nipnipprG for Whpm tables a
vided. 1t is called the Wine Springs"
district. The water is wondrous pure
and in places it can be seen bubbling
from the silver sand. There are none
but trout-brook, brown and rainbow
and they are kept in round ponds or
| board enclosed races" perhaps eight
feet across. The largest family in point
! Of size were browns" some of them
Weighing six and seven pounds. There
was a family of brook trout. IS or 90
months old, and all of inches long.
! The biggest brook trout of recent re-
port was siX-pounder caught in Mar
| quette county year ago last spring.
The rainbow trout are beautiful, but
not so good They grow larger
Pierce county farmer reporting twelve
! and one-half FOUNDER and there have
| been catches Of fifteen pounds These
fish sometimes make their way into the
| big lakes. The longest race is 100 rods,
filled with young fish. After the third
season all the fish of a species are put
| together. They are then big enough to
! protect themselves from each other.
The Oshkosh hatchery is now devot-
! ing itself to pike. Bass and trout to be
exploited later. Pike eggs are taken
from the mother fish which are capt
ured in their native waters with nest,
the fish then being returned to the
water
why the Carp Was Dropped.
The Madison hatchery dcarded the
earn a few years ago Great claims
are made for this fish by some as
cheap food for the poor. 1t grows to a
| large size and grows rapidly. But
there is prejudice against it in Wis
consn There is a notion that it eats
the eggs of better fishes and thus cuts
off the supply The experts deny this.
but the prejudice seems insurmounta-
able. These fish caused surprise in