The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1919-07-18
COMMISSIONER
PAYS VISIT To
NEW HATCHERY
Pleased With Results Attained
During Present Season
RAISE 100000 FINGERLINGS
Land About Buildings Is Being Grad
ed and Other Improvements
viii Soon Be Made

State Fish and Game Commissioner
Linus Leavens arrived in the village
Thursday afternoon for the purpose
of inspecting the improvements being
made at the state hatchery in the
Bushnell district The work of grad
ing the land about the buildings is
now in progress and grass seed will
be planted and other changes will be
made to beautify the property. The
contemplated improvements can not
all be accomplished during the pres
ent season but they will be carried out
as funds are available.
The commissioner expressed much
satisfaction with the results that are
being attained at the hatchery this
season. There are now in the troughs
in the hatchery building and in the
new concrete raceways half mil
lion young trout most of which have
already reached the lingering stage.
Some OF these lingering Matched in
January and February are now two
and one-half inches in length. They
are strong ,stocky built fish and as
lively as wild trout. Two hundred
thousand lingering have already been
distributed from the hatchery and
shipments must be made rapidly dur
ing the next six weeks in order to
distribute the stock in the streams.
A truck load of 10000 left the hatch
cry early this morning for Brattle-
boro and another load will be taken to
Windsor early next week.
Every season adds proof to the be-
lief that in the Bushnell district
hatchery the state has secured one of
the finest opportunities for the grow
ing of lingering brook trout in New
England. Fry can be hatched without
much difficulty but TO grow lingering
requires conditions of water that are
rarely available. With two sources
of supply, the springs and the noun
tain brook. it is possible at the new
hatchery to secure any degree Of tem1
perature desired. Just at present
County Warden S. b, Hawks, who hasf
charge of the hatchery is temperings
the spring water from the brook. The
fish grow more rapidly and more OIL
less natural feed comes into the .
troughs and the raceways from the
stream. asSN|
One of the most interesting sights
at the hatchery is to be seen in two
of the old wooden raceways. These
are much deeper than the new cement
structures. In one of them are num-
ber of wild trout caught in the South
last summer by the warden.
These fish have grown rapidly and
there are some specimens that will
weight a pound. In the other race
way the warden last fall placed $50
that were not distributed
when the years hatch was cleaned up.
There is not fish in the lot less than
seven inches long and some of them
will weight quarter of pound each.
They are thick, heavy fish and they
prove thai a. brook trout will grow
almost as rapidly as pig if it is
given food enough.
AT present the commissioner has no
of attempting TO produce
trout eggs at the hatchery as this
stock can he purchased from the large
commercials trout raisers for less
money than would be required to keep
a pond of stock fish 1t is his inten-
tion, however, to put dam across
the small brook flowing through the
for the purpose of making
an exhibition pond Every good fish
erman and people who do not fish en-
joy watching big trout where it can
be plainly seen. The exhibition ponds
are one of the features of most state
and government hatcheries and are a
great attraction to visitors.
There is not the slightest doubt
that the Bennington hatchery is doing
more to maintain the trout fishing in
the state than any other institution in
The state Its production so far has
been remarkable and the limit has
not been reached. It is no idle boast
TO say that in another year or two a
million or more lingering will be rails
ed here annually, providing an amount
Of stock that will go far toward main
tanning the trout fishing in the terri
tory that can be reached. During the
present season fingerling have been
safely transported as far north as
nED CtIIMH nAHK I'M AIIGIIGT