The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1868-04-10
Jhe 's9elforA GazettR.
AND CULTIVATION
OF FISH.
Publisher

OF FISH.
We copy from the New York " Week
Ly" the following. Itshows the inter-
est taken by the New England States
on this important matter. The Sus-
duehanna and its tributaries can fur
nish more Of the finny tribe than all
the streams of New England combined,
yet our people leave their streams year
after year to be pirated by fish bask-
cts, thereby rendering nugatory the
utmost endeavOrs of those who are try
ing to bring back this delicious luxury
to cur doors. 1t is to be hoped that in
the coming year all such distractions
shall be put an end to.
A society has been formed at Green
field, Mass, to prevent the eXtermina-
ton Of trout in the neighboring streams.
Last week a meeting was held at Bos-
ton under the auspices Of the Board of
Fish Commissioners to consider the
subject of the restoration and propaga-
tion of fish in the rivers from which
they have been excluded by dams.-
Hon. Harry Jewell, Speaker of the
Massachusetts House of Representa-
tives, presided. Prof. Agassiz stated
that the subject was one whose impOr-
tance could not be Over-estimated. 1t
was a matter affecting coming gener-
ati0ns, and one which should occupy
the attention of our statesmen.
''His words, he said, might seem eX-
travagant, but what is now advocated
by the Fish Commissions stands in the
same relation a the first attempts stood
10 domesticate 0ulls AID raise cattle.
How could the population Of this cOnti-
nent go on if we had no artificial pro-
duction of food? Was it ever consid-
cred, he asked, that the whole popula-
tion of this country, without exception,
are daily fed by substances all of which
are raised artificially? We live upon
beef or fowl, and upon vegetables and
fruit, no one kind of which is indigo
nous to this continent. All were
brought from the old world to be rails
ed artifcially here, and more than that,
all have died out in their wild state.
What is now proposed by the commits
sioners is to add one kind of this sup
ply of food for our benefit, that man
may feed on a greater variety. Here
he said he touched upon point which
was equally important. 1t is varie-
ty of food taken in daily to build up
the human frame, to cultivate the brain,
and develOpe the faculties, which is adj
vancing civilization. The more the
variety of food and better adapted to
these purposes, the higher our civiliza-
. ton"
He further asserted that the cultiva-
| ton of fish could and should be made
as profitable as cattle, fruit, or wheat
/ raising, or any other "branch of agri-
/ culture" The ''time will come when
every man who has water on his ground
will raise fish for his own table, as he
now raises fruit" The general and
/ State governments should take hold OF
/ this subject, and give it all the encOur-
agement and assistance required. The
professor also argued that sanitary rea-
sons should impel us to the general cul'
tivation of fish.
eff there is one thing of which the
American people have right to com
plain, it is of the uniformity of theil
diet. Men are most healthy and more
enduring in proportion as they vary
their diet and take proper time to eat
to chew their food. No creature in
the universe requires such variety o.
food as man. The fish enters largely
into the requisites of the system. 1t is
a kind of food which refreShes the syS
tenn, especially after intellectual ia
tigue. There is no other article O.
food that supplies the waste of the
head so thoroughly as fish diet, and the
evidence of it is in the fact thdt all tn
nhabitantS Of the sda-ShOre- the '0ortt
oCer, are the brighter population Of tn
country. Fish contains phosphorus toi
large extent, a chemical element Whicl
the brain requires for growth ant
health. He would not say that an eX
elusive use Of fish would make block
head wise man, but that the brain
should not be wanting Is one of It's eo
senJiaI elements"
Col. Theodore Lyman, of the New