The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-09-04
STATE TROUT HATCHERY.
ONE-OUAR7ER MILLION FRY TO BE
 DTATRIBUTED THIS YEAR.
Improvements i'm PInnt--A Reporters Visit to Windsor Locks --HOw the Eggs are Matched.

l perintendent of the state trout hatche-
 ry at Windsor Locks will begin to dis
 tribute throughout the brooks and
 streams of the state the trout fry that
 have been matched since last season.
 The distribution will be carried out un-
 der the direction of the fish commits
 sion, which is composed of George T.
 Matthewson of Enfield and Alden Sol
 mans of Norwak. About two hundred
 and fifty thousand fry will be distribu- ! ted, and the distribution will take a
 month. Last year there were only
 about fifty thousand distributed.
 It needs but visit to the hatchery to 1 convince one of the great improve
 ments that have been made at it since
 the present commission took charge. i The location of the hatchery is of easy
 access. The plant is situated about a
 mile or so from the business portion of | Windsor Locks and is reached by a
 smooth, finely macadamized road that
 is a credit to the enterprising spirit of
 the town. It is a pleasant and pictur-
 esque drive. Healthy trees spread their
 foiage-covered branches over it,mak-
 ing leafy canopy which affords a
 grateful shade from the scorching rays
 of an August sun. The residences
 which line the sides ofthe road are, for
 the most part, comfortable in structure
 and elegant in design Pretty little
 flower beds with their brilliant colors
 add beauty to the scene Thehatchery
 is situated just west of the Catholic
 cemetery.
 The present commission through MT.
 Matthewson, who is a member of it,
 bought fifteen acres of land for six
 hundred and fifty dollars. There are
 four excellent springs, and never
 failing brook called Kettle Brook"
 that goes on forever. Except in cold
 weather the mean temperature of the
 water from the brook and springs is
 about fifty-two degrees The brook yields asupply of two hundred and sev- enty-five gallons per minute,and the springs five hundred gallons. The flow of water is constant and steady. The dry weather does not affect the supply
 in either the brook or the springs. MT. Matthewson before he recommended the purchase of the land to his col league investigated the condition of the water supply, it's quantity and quality, and satisfied himself that the place afforded disadvantages which made 1t an ideal spot for a trout hatchery The results attained have justified his judg- ment. His colleague, MT. Solmans, was naturallydisposd to favor the loca- ting of the hatchery near Norfolk, but MT. Matthewson convinced himGhat the Windsor Locks location was preferable, and Mr Solmans is glad that he yield ed to Mir Matthewsons arguments. In passing 1t may be stated that the water has been analysed and it's component ingredients were found to be ninety nine and four-ffths pure, the other fifthnot being by any means deleteri- ous. The lastgeneral assembly appro- priated twenty-five hundred dollars for the purpose of improving the plant at the hatchery The board of control af- forwards supplemented this apppropri- ation by giving the commission fifteen hundred dollars, making the total sum four thousand dollars
 When one sees the fine new hatche- ry that has been built, the spacious pools that have been constructed and the other improvements that have been made, not to speak of the preliminary purchase of the land, he will have no hesitation in saying that the money | has been wisely and economically ex- pended The old hatchery was poor 1y constructed building sixteen by | twenty. Apart of it is left standing. l The new hatchery Is a solid, substantial | structure of wood, sixty-flve by thirty, 1 well ventilated and conveniently ar- | ranged for its purposes There are fif- | ty tanks in the building each being | eleven feet long and fourteen inches | wide. They are built on either side of | the building, a passage In the center | being between them. Each tank Is fur nished with water from the brooks and | springs and over the head of each there | is afaucet. The matching season will | not begin for a month or six weeks, so that when Times reporter visited the on Friday he had not an op- portunity to see the process of hatch ing the eggs. But the courteous super MT Sterling, very kindly ex- plained the process. The eggs are placed on a netting in the tank, and this netting is elevated about two inch es above the bottom of the tank. The l eggs are kept covered with flowing wa ter, having a depthof one or two inches.
 It taxes tHe eBG IToHl SlxLy-elRHl to 1 seventy days to hatch. When thetiny fry leaves the egg it goes through the netting to the water underneath and rests in the fine sand with which the bottom is strewn. It remains for twen- .y-one or thirty days without food At he end of that yeriod it ascends to the surface in quest of the morsel which he vigilant attendant throws to 1t. It hen begins to practice it's art of nib 1lng, an art which will prove fatal to t in ayear orso later, when it will in Nardly nibble at some tempting bait hrown into its watery domain by a ,kilful disciple of Izaak Walton.
 When the fry have attained certain growth they are transferred to the re- aiming pools on the outside where they ,egetate and grow until they are final y distributed throughout the perilous waters of the brooks and streams of he state There are twenty-three of hese pools. Eight of them are old and fifteen have been constructed since last eason Each of the new pools is forty wo by eighteen feet. Nature has done
 great deal for the adaptation Of the and to the purposes of a fish hatchery. 'here is natural grade of fifteen inch S to every forty feet. Thepools follow achother, the first one being located at he spring. The water flows by gravitatlon