Practical trout culture

Front matter

J LIBRARY OF CONGRESS,

!«• |°iww fo. t

j UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. |

Introduction

" Therefore, honorable and worthy countrymen, let not the meanness of the word fish distaste you, for it will afford as good gold as the mines of Guiana or Potosi, with less hazard and charge, and more cer-> tainty and facility." — Smith's Hist, of Virginia. London, 1624; page 248,

These words of the original John Smith, written some two hundred years since, were prophetic. Spite of the sneers and scorn of the ignorant, to which few have been more exposed than ourselves, and spite of the wails of would-be pisciculturists, who, dazzled by the imaginary balance-sheets of hypothetical trout farms, have rushed ignorantly into fish-farming and become disgusted that the mines of Guiana or Potosi were not at once opened to them, fish culture, in the hands of able and persevering individuals, has proven to be a thorough and complete success. That many have failed, there is no doubt ; but compared to the number of those whose fortunes have been wrecked, if not upon the mines of Guiana and Potosi, upon other equally unprofitable investments, the number is few indeed. Fish culture, like farming, is a branch of industry which, strange to say, is generally though erroneously supposed to require little or no study. "We have known numbers of cases in which large sums of money have been invested in fish culture by tyros, whose only knowledge had been gained from a few articles in the columns of a newspaper, or from the only original American

VI INTRODUCTION.

work then written upon the subject. The result of book-farming is proverbial ; that of book fish-farming is equally disastrous. Yet far be it from us, especially at the commencement of a treatise upon the subject, to ignore the value of technical works; they are much, but not all ; and the preparation of the reader for their full comprehension is only to be obtained -at the pond side and in the hatching-house, where, and where alone, the thousand minutiae of the work of the fish-farmer can be observed and thoroughly learned.

In the following pages we hope to present to our readers, as far as can be presented in a volume, the theory and practice of fish culture — the theory as we understand it, and the practice as we have performed it at our fish farm near Bloomsbury, N. J. This farm was purchased by us in August, 1867, of Mr. Thaddeus Norris, a gentleman well-known both as an author and angler. The place was in an unfinished condition, but one pond had been erected and stocked with a few hundred sickly fishes. At first, our undertaking was anything but prosperous. Our stock fishes died by dozens; our spawn, from want of proper knowledge of the theory of impregnation, and the sickly condition of our parent fishes, perished by thousands. . Musk rats bored their way through our improperly-constructed banks; a flood carried away thousands from our badly-located hatching house, and, finally, during our absence from home, some kind individuals relieved us of a large number of our finest fishes.

Far, however, from being discouraged at this multiplicity of misfortunes, we at once set ourselves to work after each new disaster to ascertain its cause and prevent its recurrence, and we are happy to state that we have met with no repetition of any of these evils. Our undertaking has for two years past been in every respect a perfect success ; and we have now on hand at least thirty thousand trout, from three to eighteen inches in

INTRODUCTION. Vll

length, all raised from spawn impregnated by ourselves. In every case our misfortunes could be traced to our own ignorance or neglect. For the latter we can offer no excuse ; for the former we can only plead the great want of facilities for instruction which then existed. Thus far, but two original works* on fish culture have appeared in America, and both were issued subsequent to our entering upon the business. These works, written as they are by two of our most renowned fish culturists, should have a place in the library of every lover or practitioner of the art. Yet, as a practical man, we feel that many points of the greatest importance are in them but casually mentioned ; and since their publication many new facts have appeared and new theories been advanced, beside the invention of labor-saving apparatus, which we think will render a new work upon the subject not unwelcome to the fish-breeding fraternity.

Though every care has been taken in the preparation of this work, we can not flatter ourselves that it is perfect. New theories will often be accepted, rendering the old baseless or even ridiculous. New inventions may be made by which the manual labor required will be still more simplified, though the Collins' spawning race, by which spawn may be taken without wetting the hands of the operator, seems to us the ne plus ultra of labor and health saving apparatus. Much has already been done, but the science is still in its infancy ; doubtless much remains to be discovered and invented, as " let well enough alone " is a maxim not to be obeyed by the fish-breeder. All science is progressive, and fish culture must not be expected to be an exception to the rule.

♦Norris' " American Fish Culture," Philadelphia, 1868; Green's "Trout Culture," Rochester, 1870.

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X TABLE OP CONTENTS.

PAGE

CHAP. VI. — Artificial Impregnation. — Males and Females — How Distinguished — Capture of Ripe Fishes- Impregnating Pans — Manipulation — Theory of Impregnation — M. Vrasski's Experiments — Causes of Failure — Remedy 76

CHAP. VII. — Incubation. — Cautions — Barren Females — Removal of Unimpregnated Spawn — Pincers, Pipettes, and Scoop — Objections — Bulb-Syringe — The Byssus a Bugbear — Charred Troughs — Substitute — Rats and Mice — Poisoned Candles — Development of Fish in Egg — Meddlesome Midwifery — Removal of Youug to Nursery — Precautions Necessary 87

CHAP. VIII. — Care of Young in Nursery. — Young when First Hatched — Care Necessary — Young Four Weeks Old — Food — Curd — Yolk of Egg — Objections — Heart or Kidney — Preparation and Method of Feeding — Epidemics — Time of Removal — Patents — A. P. A 99

CHAP. IX. — First Year. — Preparation of Pond— Removal Nets — Advantages of Aquatic Plants— Feeding Maggots, and the Maggotometer — Nail Keg Arrangement 110

CHAP. X. — Second and Third Years. — Food: Curd — Heart — Lights — Cutting Apparatus— Advantages — Killey Fishes — Fish Entrails — Diseases — Size Attained — Fish Stories 123

CHAP. XI. — Transportation.— Packing Spawn — Moss- Sponge— Dangers in Transitu — Transporting Adults- Transit Tank— Its Achievements— Condensed Air 130

CHAP. XII.— Bibliography of Fish Culture 142

PRACTICAL TROUT CULTURE.

Chapter I. History Of Fish Culture

It is a fact well known that fish-hatching has been carried on by the Chinese from the earliest periods of the world' s history, their oldest writers mentioning the fact, and it is stated by savans that in the works of Fo-hi, who flourished, according to the computation of the best authorities, 2,100 B.C., mention is made of laws regulating the time at which fish spawn should be taken. The earliest European notice of Chinese pisciculture we have met with, is that of Father Duhalde, a Jesuit missionary, who, in 1735, published at Paris a history of the Chinese Empire, in which he states that, "At a certain season of the year an immense number of merchants resort to the banks of the Yang-tse-kiang for the purpose of purchasing fish spawn. In the month of May the country people place across the current of the river, mats and hurdles extending for a distance

12 PEACTICAL TEOUT CULTUKE.

of nine or ten leagues, leaving only an opening sufficiently wide for the passage of vessels. The fish -spawn, in its passage down the river, is caught upon these hurdles ; it is removed, placed in vessels of water, and sold at once to the merchants who transport it to various parts of the Empire." This statement is corroborated by the testimony of modern travelers, who speak of impregnated spawn as a regular article of commerce. The eggs thus obtained are in precisely the same condition as those taken by the Ainsworth or Collins spawning race, being naturally impregnated ; and, strange to say, this naturally -impregnated trout spawn is now sold at prices much higher than that taken by hand, though in our experience the proportion of properly impregnated eggs is much greater by the latter process. The enormous piscines of the Romans, both under £he Republic and the Empire, as well as the accounts which have been transmitted to us of the enormous prices paid for their contents (in one case, that of Lucullus, four million sesterces, $160,000, having been obtained), show that fish culture, if not fish breeding, had at that period attained gigantic proportions. "We have full and accurate accounts of the huge piscines, and their voracious inhabitants, to whom even the flesh of a well-fattened slave came not amiss ; and it is

HISTOEY OF FISH CULTUEE. 13

more than probable that had artificial means been resorted to for the impregnation and hatching of the ova, some account of it would have been transmitted to us.

The numerous fasts' imposed upon the monks during the middle ages by the Roman Catholic Church, rendered an ample supply of fish food an article of paramount importance to the monastic fraternity ; and to them we would naturally look for any improvement in the art of fish culture. While hunting among the musty archives of the Abbey of Reome, Baron Mongaudry accidentally discovered that a monk of that religious establishment, yclept Dom Pinchon, during the fourteenth century, practiced a method of hatching, at least similar to that still pursued in some of our largest trout farms. How the reverend father obtained his spawn is unfortunately not recorded ; but obtain them he did, and no doubt received the blessing of his confreres for the welcome additions to their larder. To Dom Pinchon must be ascribed the honor of the invention of the first hatching-box.

In 1761, C. F. Lund, of Iinkoeping, Sweden, having noticed the spawning of fishes in Lake Koken, prepared a large, wide, shallow box, in which, the bottom being covered with brush, he placed male and female carp during the spawning season. As soon as the spawn was deposited, the parents were removed and the eggs protected from the attacks of enemies. This process is still practiced with success in various portions of the Continent. In 1752, Spallanzani, the eminent Italian naturalist, performed for the first time the operation of artificial impregnation, not with fishes, but with the frog ; yet the fact was established, and it was not long ere practical benefit was derived from it. To Lieut, (afterward Major) G. L. Jacobi, of Hollenhausen, must be given the credit of first introducing, if not discovering, the process of artificial impregnation of the eggs of fishes. The results of his experiments, which were preeminently successful, were published in 1763 in the Hanover Magazine, a local periodical with but a small circulation, and for a few years excited no attention ; but by its translation into Latin by Goldstein, and French by Duhamel du Monceau, in 1773 it was brought to the notice of the scientific world. Jacobi's account of his method forcibly recalls to mind the pictures of a poor, tortured salmon being held up by^ a hand to which no body is attached, her eggs falling in a graceful curve into a pan of water beneath, which were wont to ornament the covers of 'the numerous French pamphlets on pisciculture. Jacobi says : "Place in a clean vessel about a pint of pure

HISTOEY OF FISH CULTUKE. 15

water ; seize the salmon by the head, and hold her over it ; if the eggs have arrived at maturity they will fall out of her of their own accord ; if not, press lightly on the belly with the palm of the hand, the eggs will then detach themselves and fall easily into the water. Perform the same operation on a male salmon, and when there is enough milt upon the eggs to whiten the surface of the water, the fecundation of the eggs will be accomplished." His hatching-trough was similar, strange to say, to that of Dom Pinchon. Full directions are given for the removal of dead spawn, and the care required by the living. His is the first work upon pisciculture as a science. Under the care of Lieut. Jacobi, fish farms were established at Nortelem, Hanover, and Hohenhausen, and the fish produced became an important article of commerce ; it is stated that the Queen of England bestowed a handsome pecuniary reward upon their founder.

The next aspirant for piscicultural honors is an American school-boy. The late Rev. John Bachman, D.D., of Charleston, S. C, claimed, in a paper read before the State Agricultural Society, in 1855, that in 1804, at the age of fourteen years, he had impregnated and hatched the eggs of trout and other fishes. This has been denied and ridiculed, but the character of Dr. Bachman

16 PEACTICAL TK0UT CULTURE.

as a Christian gentleman is too well known and recognized for us for a moment to" doubt his veracity. Though his opinions upon religion, politics, and natural history may have met with many opponents, his truthfulness, save in this one* case, has never been impeached.

That Dr. Bachman, at the age of sixty-five, should willfully and maliciously prepare and publish a series of falsehoods, is an opinion not for one moment to be entertained. The length of time which elapsed between the experiments and the publication of the paper in which they are described, has been urged as an argument against the possibility of their having been performed. This is readily answered by the fact that Dr. Bachman makes no claim to the invention of the process. A full account of Jacobi's experiments and their result was published in 1773 in Duhamel du Monceau's "Traite general des Peches," a work to which young Bachman had, most probably, access. And we therefore see in this school-boy experiment the early dawning of that love for scientific research which in riper years rendered him famous.

Between the years 1804 and 1844, experimental pisciculture was frequently practiced both by

* Garlick's "Fish Culture," 1858, p. 135.

HISTORY OF FISH CULTURE. 17

amateurs and savans, and numbers of facts ascertained which upon the revival of the science proved of the greatest value and importance. In 1820, Messrs. Hivert and Pilachon, after much trouble, succeeded in hatching a sufficient number of trout to stock a small stream in the south of France. The eggs used in the microscopical examination of the development of the embryo, by Messrs. Vogt and Agassiz, were also obtained in this manner. But claim to the re-establishment of pisciculture as a science must be awarded to Joseph Remy of France. Remy was a fisherman who gained his livelihood by the capture of trout in the streams of the Vosges Mountains, dividing Alsatia and Lorraine, those two countries which, from time to time, alternately appear on and disappear from the maps of France and Germany. He had noticed with regret the rapid disappearance of his favorite fishes, and being, though uneducated and ignorant, active, energetic, and persevering, devoted himself for several years to the study of their habits, especially during the spawning season. The excessive drought during the summer and autumn of 1842 favored his investigations. It was, of course, impossible for one man to keep a constant eye upon a school of fishes ; nature would demand rest ; Remy therefore associated with him a tavern-keeper (auber-

18 PKACTICAL TEOUT CULTURE.

giste) named Grehin, who alternated with him in his observations. So earnestly were these pursued, that in one instance, during the full of the moon, a school of trout were kept constantly in view during four consecutive days and nights. The result was the rediscovery of the process of Jacobi, which they at once put into successful practice ; for four years it was kept secret, as even if desirous of so doing, neither of the operators were alble to prepare an account of their work for the public use ; hut in 1848 Dr. Haxo, of Epinal, visited their establishment, and at once recognized the value of their labors. Reports were immediately prepared by him and forwarded to the Government and French Academy ; by both were they received with favor. A commission of savans, headed by Mr. Coste, Professor of Embryology in the College of France, visited the fish farm of the Yosges, and reported upon it favorably. Remy became at once a celebrity; he was invited to Paris, and the fisherman, but a few months previous utterly unknown, was an honored guest at the table of the President of the then Republic. Work after work was written ; report upon report issued. A violent war of words arose between Dr. Haxo and Prof. Coste in regard to the question of Remy versus Jacobi, the whole resulting finally

HIST0EY OF FISH CULTUEE. 19

in the establishment of the French Governmental fish farm at Huningue, in' 1851.

In 1853, Dr. F. Garlick and Prof. H. A. Ackley succeeded, after great labor and expense, in establishing a small fish farm near Cleveland, O. The primary result of this was the hatching of a few trout ; the secondary, the appearance of a work entitled "A Treatise on the Artificial Propagation of Fish," a work at the present day far more curious than valuable. In 1859, Mr. Stephen H. Ainsworth, of West Bloomfield, N. Y., commenced his experiments ; from the paucity of his supply of water, it was impossible for him to enter upon fish culture as a business ; but as an experimenter, he has perhaps done as much if not more for the advancement of American trout culture than any other person. He has made numerous inventions, among which his spawning eace stands pre-eminent. The following letter, received some time since, will explain his character as a man and a pisciculturist better than pages of eulogy :

Deae Sie — The spawning race you refer to is

not patented, nor will be with my knowledge and

consent. I have done all I well could for eleven

years to improve the cultivation of trout for the benefit of mankind, not for my own profit. Should this race prove to Ibe the "best method of impregnating and saving the spawn to produce healthy trout, without mortality soon after they commence to feed, it will be the great object sought for, and make trout-breeding certain. But time and experience will test this. Respectfully, yours,

Stephen H. Ainsworth.

Among the frequent visitors to Mr. Ainsworth' s fish farm was Seth Green, whose name is now known and honored by every angler and epicure throughout our land. For years he had been studying the problem of fish culture, and had, like Remy, spent days and nights in observing the habits of fishes. In 1864 the well-known Mumford establishment was originated by Mr. Green, and hundreds of thousands of impregnated spawn annually shipped to all parts of the United States. The great problem was solved, and for the first time in America fish culture was made a pecuniary success. Trout were hatched by thousands, but as a representative American, Seth was not satisfied : the production of millions alone would content him. Our shad were rapidly diminishing in numbers and decreasing in size ; his desire was to restore them to our depleted

IIISTOEY OF FISH CULTURE. 21

streams. This was the task to which he bent all his energies. The difficulties he encountered are too well known to "be repeated ; but at length his hour of triumph came : the shad hatching-box, beautiful in its simplicity, was invented. The Connecticut River was replenished with shad, thousands were captured at one sweep of the seine where hundreds had been taken but the previous year, and fish culture had become a matter of national importance.

Such is a slight sketch, which we hope may not prove uninteresting, of the rise and progress of our art; step by step has it advanced from 2,100 B.C. to 1872, but who can prophesy its future ? In 1864 there was but one fish farm in the United States ; in less than eight years they are counted by hundreds. Success is within the reach of all — may all achieve it !

PRACTICAL TROUT CULTURE.

Chapter II. Choosing A Location

That the choice of a location for a fish farm is a matter of vitaL importance to the pisciculturist, is self-evident. The statement that any farmer who has a spring upon his place can at once enter upon the business at little cost of time and money is, as experiment has too often proved, scarcely correct. We have examined hundreds of streams and springs in various parts of our own and adjacent States, and though a few have Ibeen found to combine all the necessary requirements, many, from causes hereafter to be mentioned, were totally unfitted for the purpose. The requisites for a perfect trout farm are :

1. An ample and constant supply of pure, cold water.

2. Sufficient fall for the construction of ponds and race-ways.

3. Protection from surface water.

4. Proper material for the construction of banks. That an ample and constant supply of pure, cold water is absolutely necessary, must be apparent to all. For judging this, the only proper time is during midsummer, when the supply is at its minimum and the temperature at its maximum. Try the water with a good thermometer (not one of those twenty-five cent abominations with which the energy of peddlers have stocked the country), and if the temperature is above 65°, though in the air it may be among the nineties, it is unfit for fish culture. It is true that trout will thrive even at a temperature some five degrees higher, but it must be remembered that the water, in passing through the ponds during the summer season, has a most unpleasant habit of becoming hotter and hotter, and while spring head is at 60° lowest pond may be some ten degrees higher. Again, we have found from careful research that the lower the temperature of the water to which the spawn are subjected during incubation, the more healthy the little fishes are likely to be ; we say temperature of the water, for below 32° of course ice is formed, which is in most cases fatal to the vitality of the egg. The springs by which the hatching-houses of our most successful establishments are supplied, range from 47° to 55°. It is true that by a low temperature the time of incubation is lengthened, but this is a matter of little importance ; again, with increased temperature comes increased danger : the fungoid growths which, in spite of all our care, will sometimes appear in our hatching-trays or rearing-lboxes, are too often evidence of a too elevated temperature.

Attempts made to keep down the temperature "by passing the water through a refrigerator filled with ice have thus far failed, even when the experiment has "been performed upon a very small scale. Other fish may be hatched at a much higher temperature ; shad eggs not coming to maturity "below 70°, and gold fish have been bred even when the thermometer stood over a hundred ; but trout are a peculiar fish, and 55° is the highest at which their spawn will produce vigorous and healthy young. The question is often asked : given the capacity and temperature of the water supply, what amount of trout will it support? To answer this we sought diligently the pages of all authorities upon fish culture, but in none of them was the subject even mentioned. Inquiry was made of those who were supposed to be thoroughly posted in every branch of the art, but no information could be obtained. We at once entered upon a course of experiments, resulting in proving that for each gallon of water per minute at the temperature of 50° degrees, ten pounds of trout can be sustained ; thus the Troutdale spring delivers a volume of water which at the dryest season has been proved by repeated experiments to measure twelve hundred and fifty gallons per minute ; as each gallon will support ten pounds of trout, twelve thousand five hundred pounds weight can be sustained by the water of our spring. When sufficient fall can be obtained, by proper aeration the capacity of the water may be still greater increased.

Many rules, most of them involving abstruse mathematical calculations, have been given for ascertaining the number of gallons delivered by a stream per minute. The following, however, we have found to be the most simple and sufficiently correct for all practical purposes. Measure the width and depth of the stream where for a short distance the banks are nearly parallel and the depth nearly uniform ; between these parallel banks throw a chip or cork into the water, and note the distance it drifts during a quarter of a minute ; multiply the product of the depth and width of the stream by the distance traversed by the chip or cork, and the product, when diminished by one-fifth, will give the number of cubic feet delivered in a quarter of a minute. The one-fifth must be deducted, as the rapidity of the flow on the surface is greater than at the bottom of the stream. Thus, suppose the depth of the stream to be two feet and its width four, and that the chip has traveled ten feet in one quarter of a minute. Twice four are eight ; this multiplied by ten, the distance traversed, will give eighty, from which deduct one-fifth (16), and we have sixtyfour cubic feet as the amount delivered in a quarter of a minute, or two hundred and fifty-six per minute. Now, as a cubic foot of water contains about six and a quarter gallons, we multiply the number of cubic feet (256) by six and a quarter, and the result (1,599) will be the number of gallons furnished per minute by the stream. The accuracy of the result of this method of measurement will depend, of course, upon the parallelism of the banks and the uniformity of the depth of the portion of the stream over which the chip has floated. When the water passes through a rectangular trough, the result will be found to be almost absolutely correct.

The necessity of a sufficient fall for the proper arrangement of ponds, race-ways, and buildings is absolute ; in fact, the maintenance of the proper temperature depends greatly on the rapidity with which the water flows through the ponds, — a slow, sluggish stream becoming rapidly heated, while a rapid current may pass over a comparatively long distance without the water becoming perceptibly warmer. The rapid-running mountain brook is the home of the trout ; and this should be imitated as closely as possible. Four feet is the least fall which will render the ground suitable for the construction of trout ponds.

From the influx of surface-water more loss has probably been sustained by pisciculturists than from any other cause. "My banks have been again carried away by a freshet," is the -cry of too many sufferers, and no accident is more difficult to prevent than this. All streams are liable to freshets ; and for this reason, as well as others to be mentioned in a succeeding chapter, a spring supply is greatly to be preferred. A properlyconstructed trout pond should not become muddy during the heaviest rain storm. By a proper system of ditching, or the construction of guard banks, in many locations the surface water can be kept out ; but too frequently the lay of the ground renders it impossible to construct them without great expense, and sites which possess all other advantages are unavailable for trout ponds. The best material for the construction of pond banks is, beyond all doubt, clay ; but this is not always to be met with. Much labor and expense, however, is saved if it is found upon the spot, though good banks can and have been made with other material. Yet in case several locations, otherwise similar, being offered to the seeker for a pond site, it would be well to investigate the na-