The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-05-09
MIR. w1LLouGHBY,s SCHEME.
What Maryland fisherman Says
About Shad Matching Novelties.

1
Henry Carroll, the veteran fisher
man, turtle breeder, frog propa gator
and general farmer of Caroline County,
near Dover Bridge, was in a ruminant
mood as he sat in his wagon in the
Easton Fish Market the other day. He
said:
Eyes, there are eXperimenters besides
me in my neighborhood There is just
as big fools as people thought I was
when / fattened my terrapins on Mary
land biscuits and went to raising tad
poles from bullfrog eggs For one
there's my neighbor, John Willoughby.
Know what Johns a-doing? No?
Well I'll tell you.
He has read good deal about hatch
ing shad and other fish from the eggs
in the roe. Being of an inquiring turn
of mind he went around to the hatch
ing stations, especially the one at
Coward's, on the Tuckahoe, and looked
| about to see how it was done. He
found out and thought he could do it
better. And what do you think he's
doing now? Don't know?
well, I'll tell you. John Willoughby
is actually setting his puddle ducks on
shad eggs and is Matching out fish that
way, too, they say. He commenced it
three years ago, but done it so secret
only two or three knowed about it, and
they were bound up not to TELL
He takes his duck eggs, makes a
little hole in each end, and blows out
the stuff inside of it, like boys do when
they make a collection of eggs. He
knows more how to get live shad eggs
fSh off n n
and always has on hand plenty of shad
eggs ready to set. When a duck wants
to set he takes ten empty duck eggs and
fills them with live fish eggs, which
have been miltered and kept in water,
and puts some water in with them and
wakes up the pin holes and puts them
in nest under the. duck. He has
studied the thing so well, John Will
loughby has, he can tell to a day when
the fish will hatch. Anyhow, he claims
he can tell by holding the duck eggs up
to his ear if the fish are Matched. When
they are he opens one of the pin holes
to give them air and puts in a little
more water and let's them alone for
forty-eight hours, when they are
| big enough to go into his shad pond.
He says a poor Matching will give a
thousand shad to the egg, or ten thou
sand to the setting.
He has sold none yet. He will give
away to any one who has a fish
'quarium a duck egg full of shad fry.
He sent half dozen to ladies in Easton
last spring for 'quarium use. l expect
you saw some. You did? Then you
know what 1 am talking about
Il expect John Willoughby will be
able after a While to supply the State
with all the fish it wants for planting,
if he gets a patent on the nest he has
invented for the duck when she is
Matching fish. They'll come cheaper to
the State and he'll make a fortune You
see the duck eggs amt wasted. His
wife uses their meat in making cake
and pie crust. When his business gets
so big he will have to use a million
or so duck eggs a season, he expects to
can their substance, and is now ex-
perimenting on a process to do it nice
and cheap. See what a grand thing
this is going to be for old Caroline, don
you? He expects to raise the Matching
of one duck egg to 5000 or even 10000
fish
Some do say he has an old duck tina t
will get into his shad pond and tell
among the thousands and thousands of
young shad he has there her own hatch
ing, and that her own brood knows her,
and when she quacks for them they will
come to her and hover under her wings.
But l don't believe this. 1t is one of
them lies people will get up on a man
who is doing something nobody never
tried to do before, and getting along
we'll with it.
But one thing may come out of it,
1 bet you amt thought of. Suppose he
puts into one duck egg shell the eggs
of the shad. the perch and the rock.
And suppose he does this the next year
and the next with their roe Do you
suppose they will always hatch out
shad and perch and rock from the same
settingR Not a bit of it. It may be
the first year. or the second, but the
time will come when a mongrel fish will
be Matched, new species. a kind of
high bred, as it We're Where will it
stop? No one can tell, but just look at
the. possibilities There is another thing
he is trying-but say nothing about it
yet. He is actually caponizing his shad
at two years old, or rather, trying the
experiment
LES, IL IL pOSe>lJle he may get d CTOSS
between a duck and a fish. I can't tell.
know many things John Willoughby
can do; what he can't do 1 don't know
He once crossed. long-legged with short
legged chickens, until he got a breed
born with one long leg and one short
one, which could not scratch in his gar
den, because when they stood up on
either leg to scratch with the other they
would fall over. Yes, he was the man
that done that So you have heard the
story before.
Excuse me, 1 can't give you draw
ing and description of the fish duck
nest. That's Johns secret until he gets
it patented"
And Henry Carroll, having sold his
fish and spun his yarn, turned BESIDE
mona's head Dover Bridgeward.-B
timore Sun.
AS a rule, tears do not accompany a
baby's cries until it is months old