We have received the following communication on the hatching and raising of whitefish. No one has had greater experience or success with this peculiarly delicate and difficult variety of fish than the writer, and whatever he says on the subject may be regarded as authority:

Madison, Wis., June 22d, 1878. Dear Sir :

My experience in hatching whitefish, coregonus albus, is that the first and most important thing to insure perfect success is to get the eggs well impregnated.

2d - To use great care in transporting them from the fisheries to the hatchery.

3d - To give them a good circulation of water.

4th - To use lake water or water of same temperature.

5th - To employ sufficient help to remove all dead or unimpreg-nated eggs every day for the first thirty days after they are placed in the hatching boxes, after that time, once in two or three days is quite sufficient,

Now, in taking and impregnating the spawn, I use two men ; while one handles the female the other handles the male, and I find by so doing we have but a small percentage of unimpregnated eggs to remove, while by using both at the same time we follow nature as nearly as it can be done artificially. We have to transport the spawn of the whitefish for our hatchery from one to two hundred miles. We use what is termed the dry process for transporting them, having an attendant constantly with them to handle the boxes very carefully whenever it becomes necessary to move them at any time while en route to their destination.

I also take great pains to get the temperature of the spawn in the boxes equal to the water in the hatchery before placing them in their proper place in the hatching boxes.

I use the Holton Patent Hatching Box which I consider the only proper appliance for hatching whitefish to insure a genuine success, all others that I have seen or heard of have been a failure to a greater or less extent. I use plenty of water running through the boxes to cause enough current to nearly lift the eggs from the trays, or, in other words. I use as much as possible without lifting them. I use the water from Lake Michigan, the same being pumped directly from the lake into the hatchery, therefore we have the same temperature of water that the spawn have that is deposited naturally by the fish in the lake, which I consider necessary to produce good healthy fish, such as will thrive and prosper. In fact my experience in hatching this variety of fish in spring water and also in lake water has convinced be that those hatched in spring water come out prematurely and cannot survive more than a short time.

I find it also necessary to remove all the unimpregnated eggs as soon as possible, also to wash and cleanse them from every particle of glutinous matter, after which I have no trouble with their matting or sticking to the trays and then by using due diligence to business I never fail, and success crowns all my efforts. I have also been experimenting in feeding a few of the whitefish of the last two season's hatchings and have succeeded in keeping some forty of the hatch of 1877 until the present time which now measure from six to seven inches in length. I also have about the same number from this year's hatch which are growing finely, and are in better condition and more thrifty than those of last season were at their age which is no doubt owing to the improvement in feeding, which we have made since last season. The great trouble in raising whitefish artificially, is in teaching them to feed which requires both patience and perseverence. We commence when the fry are from ten to twelve days old. We use the blood of veal or beef mixed with sweet milk or cream, and water enough to make it as thin as water itself which is done by taking a small quantity of the blood into a dish with about the same quantity of cream or twice the quantity of sweet milk, and then stirring it thoroughly ; after it has become well mixed, we then commence adding water and continue to add the same until the whole has the appearance of roily water, when it is ready for use. We then pour into the trough at the upper end so that the current will carry it down the entire length and give the fry ample time and opportunity to partake of the food.

The first positive indications we have that they are feeding is the unusual excitement which is shown by their continually darting hither and thither through the roily substance. In a short time you can discern in them a marked difference in the color of the body, which loses transparency and becomes dark. After the fry have been feeding a few days we dispense with the cream or milk and use only water for thining the blood. When two months old they will take liver ground fine using water in the same manner as with the blood. When a few months old they take the ground liver prepared in the same way you prepare it for young trout. Care should be taken not to feed any food in lumps as they seem to choke easily, in fact the only fish we have lost of those of the hatch of 1877 in six months past, three in number, have choked to death with careless feeding. They become nearly as ravenous feeders as the trout, rising and taking their food near the surface and also picking it from the bottom which is covered with fine sand kept clean and free from decomposed food.

I have no doubt those I have been feeding the past fourteen months would take the hook as readily as the trout of the same age.

Yours truly,

H. W. Welsher.

Supt. Wisconsin Fish Com.