Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-10-05
.rHE HARyEsr OF THE sea-

Of grain crops, fruit crops and root
crops, and other products of agriculture
and horticulture, and with the vast
amount of Interest that has always been
shown in the improvement Of breeds Of
cattle and promoting their increase and
productiveness, that so little general
attention has been given to the cult
walton Of that great source Of food
which more than o hundred years ago
ives ap,ly called "The Harvest Of the
Seas" There is no more delicious
article of food placed on our tables than
that formerly furnished in such album
dance by the great rivers and the swift
running interior streams with which
this country fortunately abounds.
Why, then, fish should not be cult
waited, and their productireness be In
creased, instead Of allowing them to de-
crease, and man fine varieties OF them
get into danger Of dying'out altogether
is q matter of surprise. 1t may be that
they have been regarded rs in the ma
ture of other wild animals, which could
not be subjected to the care and control
of nan but this is a short-sighted view
of the subject, as it has been demon
strated for many years that such adV"n-
tage can be taken of the instincts and
habits Of migratory fishes rs to Keep
streams and ponds well stocked with
them, and to furnish abundant supplies
for all neighboriug markets. Within a
few years past this idea has been extern
sively acted upon in Europe, and to
some extern, in the Eastern States Of
this country. Fish culture has taken
its place among the most useful and
valuable pursuits, and fish spawn has
become an important article of COM
merce. In France, Scotland, Ireland
and other European countries, rivers
and streams that furnished an abundant
supply of the finest fish in former gene
r%ations, and that had become nearly if
not quite barren, have been restocked,
and now furnish as ample q yield as in
their best days. The same process is
going on in the New England States
with the trout and salmon fisheries, and
spawn of the shad has even been trans
ported across the country to q tributary
of the Alabama, and that noble river
and some Of its branches have thus
been stocked with that favorite fish.
One fish c~ulturist in this country is
sending fresh eggs by the million
throughout the Northern and Middle
States. This grower Matched out last
summer the enormou number of forty
millions of young shad, and turned
them into the Connecticut River.
1t appears from the. experience Of
those engaged in the work that it is
among the easiest and most certain
things to keep any stream well supplied
with the variety of fish to which it is
adapted. 1t is among the most prolific
of animals. A ten pound salmon yields
ten thousand eggs, a good sized herring
will spawn forty or fifty thousand,
a shad yields q hundred thousand,
while q good sized Goldfish spawns q
million. If this prolific yield of spawn
all reached mature age the rivers and
seas even would be alvey with fish. But
the eggs are subjectsto danger ard risks
of destruction almost rs numerous as
the proportions of their increase in num-
bers. Those deposited in fresh water
rivers are gobbled up by mature fish,
by fresh water fowls and other depre-
dating animals; they are washed ashore,
high and dry, by foods, and they are
covered up by refuse from saw-mills,
tauneries, etc. When that part Of the
spawn that escapes all such dangers is
Matched, the young fish, in turn, become
the prey of other fish; and millions on
millions are destroyed in that way.
Scarcely more than one in a hundred fish
eggs escape all these perils long enough to
reach maturity. With the stock that
is taken care of by the fish-culturist it
is different. When, at the proper season,
be has procured his spawn, he has his
troughs, his ponds, and his sheltered
streams, which guard his young crop
from nearly all their perils. When he
puts q thousand eggs Of the salmon or
trout into his Matching trough, he is
pretty sure to get eight hundred young
| fish from them. This gives the artif-
cial culture a great advantage over the
natural supply. As there is scarcely a
month in the year in which the fish of
some genus is not spawning, there is q
constant opportunity for engaging in
| the work. The French Government is
making every effort to extend the cul-
ture as q branch of national industry.
In that country, the artificial fish ponds
of Doombes extend over thirty thou
sand acres. All kinds of streams and
waters are stocked from them with fish
suitable to their peculiarities, and this
is done under the supervision Of experts
appointed by the Government. Spawn
and young fish, Of carp, perch, cells and
pike, are sent to lakes, ponds and slug
gish streams, trout to the cool and
bounding brooks, and salmon to the
clear, swift-running rivers. There it is
a great and wonderfully successful en-
terprise, and it seems destined to be-
come so here. There is no difficulty in
securing spawn, and zone in getting the
proper instruction for treating it, or for
any branch Of the culture. Mr.. Thad-
deus Norris, one Of the most successful
ish-culturists in this country, has just
issued a complete treatise on the sub
ject, in which he imparts the teachings
of his experience.
The DAILY SAFEGUARD.-The new
n.-,;c nonar mazda its fret an.