II. A. Ackley of Cleveland, Ohio, successfully hatched brook trout, and were followed a few years after (1859) by the successful efforts of Stephen II. Ainsworth of West Bloomfield, N. Y., and subsequently by Seth Green of Mumford, N. Y., Livingston Stone of Charles-town, N.

II., and others. The establishment organized by Mr. Green, since transferred to Mr. A. S. Collins, is at the Caledonia springs, which rise from the rocks in the village of Caledonia, Livingston co., N. Y., and supply a brook, which, after a course of about a mile, flows into Allen's creek, a tributary of the Genesee, in the village of Mumford. This stream, which falls about 50 ft. during its course, is one of the most prolific of trout in the country. In places it is very rapid, while in others it flows with a gentle current. The bottom is covered with small white shells and gravel. The water is clear and pure, save a tincture of lime and sulphur. Its temperature at the springs is 48° the year round, but three quarters of a mile down the creek it rises in the hottest days in summer to 58 , and falls at times in winter to 43 . Throughout its course the stream swarms with insects and the larvae of flies, which furnish abundant food to the trout both winter and summer. Ponds, raceways, hatching houses, etc., have been erected on an extensive scale, and large quantities of ova and fry as well as adult trout are sold annually. A state hatching house was erected here in 1870, which, under the superintendence of Mr. Green, has been used chiefly in breeding salmon trout and whitefish.

The establishment of Mr. Stone, known as the Cold Spring trout ponds, is built on two streams, which discharge into the Connecticut, the smaller one, with a hatching capacity of about 5,000,000, being used chiefly for hatching purposes, while the spawning beds and breeding ponds are on the larger one. The springs that feed the streams are very large, and maintain an even temperature of about 47° from the first of December to the first of May. Besides trout spawn, the ova of salmon have been hatched here in large quantities for the New Hampshire fishery commissioners, and the experiment of breeding black bass has been undertaken. The salmon eggs have been chiefly obtained from the salmon-breeding waters of the Miramichi river in New Brunswick. With the establishment is connected a farm of 500 or 6OO acres, through which flows a stream, the outlet of Monadnock lake, peculiarly adapted to the culture of trout. Other noteworthy trout ponds are those of P.

II. Christie at Clove, Dutchess co., X. Y.; of Dr. J.

II. Slack in Warren co., N. J.; of Col. James M. Thompson at West Springfield, Mass.; of the Rangeley trout-hatching association at Bema Springs on the head waters of the Androscoggin river, Franklin co.. Me.; of Mr.

II. F. Dousman at Waterville, Wis.; of Mr. Jackson Crouch at South Jackson, Mich.; of Mr. N. W. Clark at Clarkston, Mich.; and of the state hatching house at Niles, Mich. It is stated that 150 persons are engaged in fish culture in the United States, and that the capital invested amounts to 82,000,000. Legislative action was first taken by the New England states, which were followed by others, until now commissioners of fisheries exist by law in 15 states, viz.: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, Ohio, Michigan, and California. By the act of congress of Feb. 9,1871, a United States commissioner of fish and fisheries was provided for, whose duty it was made to prosecute investigations, with a view of ascertaining whether any and what diminution in the number of the food fishes of the coast and lakes had taken place, and to what cause such diminution was due, as well as what remedial measures, if any, should he adopted. Prof. Baird of the Smithsonian institution was appointed commissioner.

The efforts of these commissioners have been directed to the restocking of rivers and ponds, to the erection of fishways around falls and dams, and to the procuring of protective legislation forbidding the taking of fish during the spawning season, and regulating the use of nets and the more destructive means of capture. In 1867 Seth Green hatched 15,000,000 young shad at Holyoke, Mass., and turned them into the Connecticut river, and repeated the experiment the following year. Operations have since been carried on, under the auspices of the Connecticut commissioners, at South Had-ley falls, where more than 90,000,000 eggs were hatched in 1872. The result has been a very great increase in the number of shad taken in that river. Hatching operations have also been carried on by Mr. Green, under the auspices of the New York commissioners, at a point about 10 m. below Albany on the Hudson, where 8,295,000 young shad were hatched in 1871, and 7,498,000 in 1872, which were turned into the river. Experiments made by Mr. Charles G. Atkins in Maine, in 1871 and 1872, have demonstrated the practicability of taking salmon in the spring and keeping them confined in ponds until the spawning season, when the eggs can be readily obtained.

The fish are caught in the Penobscot and confined in a pond in Bucksport. In 1872 about 1,500,000 eggs were obtained and distributed among the persons under whose patronage the work was carried on, viz.: the commissioners of the United States, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. In Massachusetts fishways have been built on the Merrimack at Lawrence and Lowell, and hatching operations have been carried on at North Andover to restock that river with shad. The alewife has been reintroduced into many ponds, and fishways built over dams to enable that fish to ascend streams that had become impassable. Salmon have been placed in several streams on Cape Cod, in the Mystic river, and in the Pemigewasset in New Hampshire, a branch of the Merrimack. An improved fishway has been invented by E. A. Brackett of Winchester, one of the commissioners, who has also introduced an improved hatching tray, which has been extensively adopted, in consequence of the saving of labor which results from its being less liable than the ordinary boxes to be clogged with dirt, and from its ease of manipulation.