Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1854-05-27
FISHES.

Nature has everywhere provided food for man.
Every element is full of life, and constantly pro-
ducing that which goes to nourish and strengthen
the human race. In the waters perhaps more
abundantly than olsewherD and more easily to be
obtained, are the means Of sustenance. Man takes
to the water as to the land; he seeks food soon
from the the other; and everywhere in their
own element, from the seas whose bottoms have
never been reached by lead and line, to the brooks
that come pouring down the mountains and leaping
from the hills, do fishes abound. Their names and
species are almost endless and their habits Of life
have never in many cases been discovered. 1t hap
pens unfortunately that our manner Of dealing
with the nny tribe tends greatly to their destruc
| ton, almost before we know their value or the
means Of their preservation and propagation.-
This has been seen not alone with us, where they
are fast disappearing from the rivers and streams
from the bays and seas,-the cod and its associ-
ates, the salmon, shad, pickerel, perch and their
felows-but thus 1t has been all over the world, as
n though they were given for barbarous state, and
disappeared as civilization advanced. They have
diminished in Great Britain and Ireland fast as
with us, though they have passed one statute upon
another for hundreds of yeaIs 10 prevent it, 1t is
mentioned in Ireland, in the 10th century, in the
very places where they now complain Of their i'm
poverishod condition, that they complain more
often often for bursting their nets with the over
great take Of fish, than for any want" Now many
Of the fshings there are abandoned. SO in Scot
land. Upon the Tweed but one-fourth as many
salmon were taken in 1921 as in 1911 and it was
noticed that fourhs Of those taken were on their
first ascent before having propagated their species
Go to the North Seas, and the same thing is true
, A recent writer says, that Russian civilization has
reduced to misery the hsheating tribes OF Siberia
and the migration of fish up the fresh water rivers
=, will hereafter be known only in tradition.
This destruction Of fish must be uncalled for
IS since their productive power is greater than an,
q other hig1er animal. In the spawn Of the tencl
g have been counted $4,000 eggs at once; in Tho
d mackerel, 546000 and in the cod, 1857, 900
a We can only account for the diminution from thu
n ignorance Of their nature and habits, and tn
thoughtless manner Of taking them by impropc
. means, and at seasons preventing reproduction
7 as one Of the statutes Of Henry VIII reads, "b
y persons having respect only to their own willfu
. nesse singular commodtie and benefit" or as wa
. said by after statute, "by persons Of greedy az
III petites and Unsuitable desires"
The natural supply having failed for want {
in care, the world is studying TO reproduce ther
y, by artificial MEANS This we believe has for lon
time been done by the Chinese, who have eve
succeeded in crossing breeds, with anima
The mode Of operating is very simple. There ar
but two fishes that produce their young alive-th
IN whale and new fish, Of which Prof. Agassiz ha
IN specimens, discovered in California, in lS5.
All others lay their eggs, and the male gtfertcdro
rs passes over impregnatng giving life to the do
ID posits IT, then, the fishes fail in stream, the
C. can be renewed by taking the impregnated egg
NJ from the stream where they arc laid TO supply
w other. In this way fishes may be had in create
st abundance than where nature supplies them an
fy they may be grown to furnish the table Of the pr
h pretor, for sale, sheep pigs be on liant
ii, This pisculture or israising has been extensive
carried of late in France, where it is expecte
in they viii yet supply much food to the poorer casse
ed The Dutch have also established fish nurseries i
Of the neighborhood Of the Hague, and the Scotch
he the river Tay, have made salmon nursery
ng 100000 eggs, that are expected to hatch this sprn
ap In other parts of Europe this process goes ON wit
hopes of success, and the rivers and bays may y
en- be as Of old.
Of We notice that in New York and some 9th,
mt sections of this country, that they talk of tryn
he the experiment 1t is worth the trial to return II
y salmon to their old haunts, and to Gil the ponC
Ia and streams with trout and pickerel, in 9TH
ID days There would he not only the unequallt
by pleasure of taking the fish, but how agreeable to
70 our little brooks and water privileges In Il