Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1863-10-31
A G R leu L 7 I R A L.


salmon CHliurc.
In Europe the salmon fisheries are rapid
= ly improving, owing to the more careful
study of the habits Of this remarkable fish
and suitable laws against the destruction d
the young. ln the Tweed, 1t is asserted
that double the number have been taken in
the nets this season above last and thi,
appears to be owing to a very few simple
precautions. The salmon fisheries of III,
British Provinces and of New England, on
the other hand, are rapidly falling off, ow
ing, in part, to steamboat navigation in
part to the saw-dust from the saving up Oi
so much lumber 10y water power, and the
dams and disturbance of the streams thus
created; but most of all Iy want of attcn-
tiOn to the laws o. the breeding of this fish
The salmon and the trout are Of the same
genus. The trout, however, is almost en-.
/ urciy fresh water fish, while the salmon is
, lgratury-alWays once II year. and some
assert twice. 1t is bred in fresh water. and
. the eggs are destroyed hy salt yet after ar
! irving at a certain stage it seeks the sea and
there rapidly thrivcS and increases Its red
color seems due to the enormous amount of
amphipod crustaccans which it dcvOurs
/ The crustacGanS, however, have their re-
vcnge, for they become parasites around the
pcliing reasons which induce it to seek the
fresh water. after certain time, to kill ,hcm.
Another sort of fresh water parasites attach
to the salmon there, and COmprls it to re-.
turn to the sea, after the breeding season.
The salmon can, however. exist entirely in
fresh water, rs the lake Of SelagO, in Maine,
hnd other lakes, without access to the sea,
show; but in such cases they are far inferior
III size and quality. Indeed it has been
found thai, usually, during the whole period
uI their visit TO the river they do not increase
in size.
llogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, was the first
who suspected that the pretty little fish,
called, in Scotland, the parr was in fact the
young Of the salmon, and while all Europe
was ringing with complaints Of the decrease
of the salmon. countless thousands of their
young were caught and killed, and the pigs
sUnctimcs iattencd upon the Young of Il
fish that full grown would bring two dollars
and II half II pound in the London market,
no one believing that they were Young sal
mon, so different did they appear. The old
tradition was long fully Lcilcved that the
Young returned with the old fish to the sea,
to bc instructed either in the art Of swim.
ming or of finding again the mouth of their
native rivers. 1t is only within the last few
Yeas that the parr question has been settled
lay MIR. Robert Bulot, the last skCptiC. having
taken nc management Of the breeding ponds
at StOrmiiclG This discovery will no doubt
save millions Of the young from an Lnt.mely
end
Another matter long difficult TO decide,
has been the nature of III" food upon which
the salmon thrivrS 80 remarkably while in
the sct water, that fish registered and
identified was known to gain eleven pounds
and Il quarter in five weeks and two days,
being but ten pounds first and twcnty-one
pounds and quarter when finally taken
The singular thing is that nothing is ever
found in the stomach of the captured salmon.
but, like mullet, which the anCicns used to
regard us the type OF all starvclings and
iastcrS, ordinary dissection can never show
what it feeds upon. But the truth seems to
be that it has II remarkably rapid digestion
of the minute Crustacrans, which it devourS
in immense numbers. One authority, how
ever, asserts that the salmon vomits at the
moment of being taken Certain it is that
the stomach of the goldfish, which increases
in size only very slowly, often contains II
perfect museum of small fish and even less
digcstblc food which the salmon never does.
Another point has been settled, 10y care
tul experiment, that, as IL general ruic, every
salmon returns to its own stream. This Is
of great Importance to salmon breeders ;
otherwise their labOrs would only he for the
general good, and not that of those who
owned particular fisheries. 1t is found that
salmon of very different shape inhahit parti
cuIar streams, and pieces ol -coppcr wire in
serted in the fins of those caught young have
proved the tendency of each fish to return
To its native stream, even where several
streams empty into the same estuary. How
they find their way is, perhaps, not more
mysterious than the fight OF birds like the /
carrier pigeon, for instance, Some have !
Suppr scd that the particular flavor or smell |
oI the water guides them. 1t is, moreover T,
pretty certain that they sometimes make II |
mistake, or cmlgratC purposely, as Professor |
Agns,iz found in the Merrimac IA Salm0 !
Hr0uats showing that the European fish, /.
in leaving their Arctic retreats, sometimes |
come down the American shore. The cN- |
traordinary powers OF this fish, in ieaping, +.
sometimes rs much is fourteen feet pcrpcn- /
dicularly to surmount dam, are well I,
known. BoStoH CVHirdt0r