The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1917-01-27

Field station No. 2 of the Vermont
Fish and Game Department located
on the property in the Bushnell dis
trict purchased by the commissioner
late last summer, is now in tull oper-
alton in charge OF County Fish and
Game Warden Edward S. Higgins.
In the tIoughs at one end Of the build
ing are a hundred thousand brook
trout fry and $4,000 eggs rapidly APP
preaching the Matching stage A lot
Of hundred thousand lake trout eggs
is expected TO arrive from the state
hatchery at RoXbury next week.
During the early stages OF the
Matching process it has not been nee
essary for the warden 10 devote all of
his time to the care Of the half mil
lion living organisms. but now that
the little fish have begun to emerge
from the eggs he will have TO be on
the job every day in the week and
will probably require the services of
an assistant. Heretofore he has been
at the hatchery every other day TO
carefully pick out of the troughs each
dead egg to prevent contamination.
n HtnSAt utAu GSE II difO0 tA W
main win soon infect those adjoining
and will eventually result in the des-
truction OF the entire lot. In addi-
ton to picking out the dead eggs. the
warden must remove any sediment
that collects. This is carefully ac-
complished with a long feather In or
der not to break the fragile filaments
that hold the future half Founders to
be caught some day by Bennington
county fishermen.
Only a few of the troughs were at
first used. but now that actual hatch
ing has taken place II will be neces-
sary to distribute the fry in other
troughs that they may have room for
development. When the eggs were
received at the hatchery they were
carefully spread upon wire screen
trays which were then submerged in
the troughs to a depth of about two
inches. When the eggs began to
hatch, emerging from the shell tail
first, they fell through the holes in the
screen to the bottom of the troughs.
The eggs develop first into fry
with an abnormally large stomach,
called the umhllical sac, which is
their bread basket" and which sus-
tains the little fish during the first
period of their existence. This sac is
gradually absorbed and when it dis.
appears the fry must then be artl-
ficially fed If it is the intention to
plant the trout as fry they are placed
in the streams as soon as they begin
to rise to the surface and feed on
floating particles. 1t is understood
that it is Fish and Game Commission
er Titcomb's purpose to raise por-
ton of the fry hatched at the station
to the lingering stage in order that
the water may be given a thorough
test.
II will be remembered that the
first attempt to establish a sub-sta
tion in Bennington county was made
at what is locally known as the Duck
Pond" collection of springs in Arl-
ington. In this experiment a small
building was erected and water was
piped from the reservoir created by
damming the springs to a battery of
outdoor troughs. No attempt was
Dldub W udtCH tSSS Dul otNtIdl tuouS-
and fry were put in the troughs. The
fry thlived for a time, but as soon as
the weather became warm the water
developed disease germs and it be-
came necessary to distribute the fish
in hurry in order to avoid a total
loss.
At the new station the natural con-
ditions are so much more promising
that the commissioner decided to
build portion of the plant on a per-
manent basis. In the beginning, the
land was purchased outright instead
of operating under an option as was
the procedure in the Arlington eX-
pertinent. The property consists of
about seven acres, a section Of pas
ture formerly a portion OF the Ed
ward Bushnell farm, and located east
OF the highway. The purchase includ-
ed two large springs on the opposite
side of the road, the rights to the wa
ter from a small brook and a power
privilege on what is known as the
South stream.
The combination of spring water,
brook water and power privilege, in
the opinion of the commissioner, con-
stitute one of the best, II not the best,