New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-06-22


Horticulture; but what ia Pisciculture! Be patient
and attend, worthy friend, and you shall be in.
structed as you have often been before by u.s. and as
we humbly trust, you shall often be again. 1t does
not intend the cultivation of the land like agricul
ture but that of the waters. The sea has long been
used as symbol of barrenness, and the rivers have
not been generally regarded as capable being made
BY labor and ingenuity the source of increasing
stores of food, and so of wealth. But that is all
| changed now and the waves Of the ocean and
the swift waters of the running stream may be
made to yield themselves to the skill and industry
! of man almost as uncompainingly and as sbun-
| dainty as the boon earth herself. And this is
through the recent improvements in the science OF
Piscculture, or the propagation of fish by artificial
means This has already been carried to very
| great extent in Europe, especially in France,
| though it has not been in use much more than ten
years And there is limit to the possibilities of
| its extension in this country
This practice of increasing the production of fish
| BY artificial means is no newthing. The Chinese
have had il for centuries, together with gunpowder,
printing, the mariners compass, and almost every
| thing that We pride ourselves upon as essential
| portions of our civilization. The early Romans
also cultivated it very successfully, though it was
| unaccountaby disused in the later ages of the Re-
| public and the Empire, when the passion for fish
| almost amounted to a mania. All through the
middle ages, strict laws were enforced forthe preser
walton of fish, by prohibiting their capture at the
| spawning period, and when of tender age. AT one
time, it was even capital crime t. catch young
salmon in Scotland. To this day On the continent
of Europe, where the multiplication Of food is an
object of 80 great political as well as economical
importance (it being perfectly true, as Goblet
said. that il is hard to make a fellow with full
belly rebe), the preservation of fish is part of
the regular police arrangements of the Govern
ments.
Though many experiments were made in Italy
and London and elsewhere, during the last century,
toward the artificial multiplication Of fish, the
world owes the miraculous draughts to which itmay
now reasonably look forward, to "a simple fisherman
of La Bresse, of the name of Joseph Remy. He
associated with himself another fisherman, named
Antoine Gehin, while in the process of discovery,
and their names inseparsbly connected with this
new development of science. They were led by
their intelligent observation of the habits of the
finny tribe with whom their pursuits lay, to almost
precisely the same experiments which the sarantS
of France and Germany had tried in this direction.
Their practical skill, however, enabled them to
bring them to successful result which all the
learning of the wise had failed of. The Government
of France took it up and following the pOlicywhich
distinguishes her management of such matters from
that pursued in England, these two unearned fish
ermen were placed at the head OF the Commission
for stocking the waters of France with fish, for the
singular reason that they knew more about the
matter than anybody elsa proceeding that might
well astonsh the Tite Barnace interest and all the
members Of the Circumocution Office.
The process consists in the artificial expressiOa
of the spawn and milt of the fish, the mixture OF
which in the water is essential to the yiycatiOn of
the eggs, and then stirring them gently together.
If this be done with proper regard to the natural
condition. of the propagation of the fish, the eggs
in due time disclose their young; and by this means
great multtudes may be saved for their own enjoy
ment and ours. which would have been lost by tho
accidents to whsh such embryonic atoms are liable
in the cold world on which they thrown. 1t is
TO guard against this inevitable danger that nature
provides the fish with such countless muttudes OF
eggs. "throngDg the seas with spawn iunumer.
able a. she does in the case of the seeds Of plants
and fruits Lund, Swedish naturalist who pur-
sued this investigation about hundred years ago,
found that ole hundred mulets produced four
millions of young! So we may imagine to what an
extent i.h may be mutp piled when this science is
carried 70 its highest perfection. One might almost
inseine COmuss threat mightc come true, and " the
sea o'erfraucht would swell with its inhabitants,
miniature be "oyerlaid with waste fertility"
After the eggs are hstcbed, much skill is neces
s,ry in their treatment and the supplying them
with food suitable to these tender juveniles Under
the Roman Emperors, Christian now and then
was thrown into the carp-pOnds a. bonne b'uche.
But IS such an article of diet would be expensive
and. indeed, might be difficult 10 find in all local.
ties. other descriptions Of animal food have to be
furnished TO the pscatory infants. Great care has
10 be observed in keeping the rising generations
educated together Of about tn same age, as they
are by no means particular about matching them
selves with fellow OF their size; bat if they can
master weaker brother they devour him with as
little scruple as New-Zesander dimes off mis-
souary. This immoral tendency is checked in
them as ia that Of rebellion in Christians, by keep
ing their bellies full with ssyory msat such as