The experiment has several times been tried of marking the salmon after spawning and watching for their return in after years.  After some experiments, the mode finally fixed upon as best was to attach a light platinum tag to the rear margin of the dorsal fin by means of a fine platinum wire.  The tags were rolled very thin, cut about half an inch long and stamped with a steel die.  The fish marked were dis missed in the month of November.  Every time it was tried a considerable number of them was caught the ensuing spring, but with no essential change in their condition, indicating that they had not meanwhile visited their spawning grounds.  In no case was a specimen caught in improved condition during the first season succeeding the marking.

But the following year, in May and June, a few of them were taken in prime condition—­none otherwise—­and it several times occurred that female salmon were a second time committed to the inclosure and yielded a second litter of eggs.  The growth of the salmon during their absence had been very considerable, there being always an increase in length and a gain of twenty-five to forty per cent. in weight.  The conclusion seems unavoidable that the adult salmon do not enter the Penobscot for spawning oftener than once in two years.

The method of impregnation employed has always been an imitation of the Russian method introduced into America in 1871.  The eggs are first expressed into tin pans, milt is pressed upon them, and after they are thoroughly mixed together, water is added.  The result has been excellent, the percentage of impregnated eggs rarely falling so low as 95.

After impregnation the eggs are transferred to the hatchery at Craig’s Pond Brook, where they are developed, resting upon wire-cloth trays in wooden troughs, placed in tiers ten trays deep, to economize space, and at the same time secure a free horizontal circulation of water.

The hatchery is fitted up in the basement of an old mill, of which entire control has been obtained.  The brook is one of exceptional purity, and a steep descent within a few feet of the hatchery enables us to secure at pleasure a fall of 50 feet or less.  The brook formerly received the overflow of some copious springs within a few hundred feet of the hatchery, which so affected the temperature of the water that the eggs were brought to the shipping point early in December, an inconvenient date.  This has been remedied by building a cement aqueduct 1,600 feet long, to a point on the brook above all the springs, which brings in a supply of very cold water.

The shipment of eggs is made in January, February, and March, when they are sent by express, packed in bog-moss, all over the northern States, with entire safety, even in the coldest weather.

In the following statement is embraced a general summary of the results of each season’s work: 

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