scarcity of large fish that had evidently been in the river during one
or two previous seasons seemed to show a tendency toward the depletion
of the run of old fish and the substitution of a run of young,
artificially hatched fish.

(4) A feature of the salmon supply in recent years, on which the
fishermen nearly all lay considerable stress, is that the runs in
April and July, which in former years were often quite important and
remunerative, have of late been very poor, although the fish
constituting them are of large size, while the runs in May and June
have kept up, but have consisted chiefly of comparatively small fish.
In this the fishermen believe they see evidence of the work of the
hatchery, for the young salmon artificially hatched have been from eggs
of May and June fish, and the fishermen think that such young fish,
when they return to the river to spawn, will come at about the same
time that their parents did.

Many salmon fishermen might be quoted on the question of results of
propagation. A few sample statements and records of salmon taken will
be given covering different parts of the bay and river.

Mr. Francis French, an experienced salmon fisherman of Stockton, on the
western side of Penobscot Bay, reports that of the 61 salmon taken in
his weir in 1896, 56 were under 11 pounds in weight, and all evidently
belonged to the same year's brood. In 1895 the 29 salmon obtained by
Mr. French averaged 20 pounds each. According to his observations, a
very large percentage of the salmon in the Penobscot region in 1896
were hatchery fish that then entered the river for the first time.

Mr. A. H. Whitmore, a salmon fisherman of over thirty years'