The Republican journal., 1871-06-01
Seth Green on the Shad Waters Of
VirQinia,


A private letter from Mr.. Green place
him at Richmond on the 14th instant. III
went thence by invitation Of Gov. Wake
to advise in regard to the shad fisheries 0
the State and give instructions in thu
method of culture adopted in the Northerl
rivers. He was received at Richmond b,
the State officers with much kindness 4
State steamer was placed at the disposa
OF Mr.. G.. and with the Commissioners h,
has been steaming up and down the river:
for week. He arrived too late to dc
much in the way of shad Matching thi,
season. He was going up the Rappahan-
mock yesterday to look tor grounds where
4 trial can be made
On Saturday evening supper wa.
given Mr.. Green at Richmond, and some
twenty gentlemen interested in fish cul
ture We're present Speeches We're made
and Mr.. Green talked fish for two hour,
and a half.
The Richmond Dispatch notices the ar.
rival OF Mr. Green, and speaks Of fish cul-
ture as follows
THE FISH QUESTION.
The slreams-thc BROOKS, the creeks,
and the rlycrs-may be likaned to the az
terles of the human body il their Office OF
dltlusing life and sustenancc. They enrich
the meadows and the valleys, supply wa
ter to man and beast, and the fish that
live in them add materially to the means
OF subsistence for society. The waters in
this last service are of immense import
ance And vet, from neglect misuse, and
and abuse Of this great blessing. men
are so nearly deprived of ii in L GREAT
part OF the country that as a means of
subsistence fish are hardly to be estimated
Now, then, by the discoveries Of science,
anu by the progress of art, the restockino'
OF streams abundantly with fish has be-
come u matter of certainty. and the pro
cess INVOLVES but Il moderate expenditure.
An abundant supply of fish for the peo-
pie in every section is matter Of such
importance that it will everywhere be
considered q duty of government not on
" 70 see that the rivers are stocked, but
furthermore to see that they are protected
III" Northern States generally have adopt
ed measures to stock the rivers we rX-
pect to see ali the other States following
their good example. Private enterprise
will actively cooperate with the Govern
ment III stocking waters controlled bv in
dividuals. So that if the Government
stocks the rivers, and opens the way for
fish to ascend them, the smaller waters
will be supplied by individual efforts, and
the whole country will be blessed with an
ample supply of food that is both nutriti-
Gus and healthy.
Mr.. Seth Green, one Of the most skilled
Of those now embarked in the cultivation
OF fish, and who is the superintendent of
State fisheries in New York, il now in
this city, and has laid before the Commits
sloners OF Virginia and many gentlemen
who take q deep interest in the matter the
most conclusive proofs Of the great sue
cess which has attended the efforts to
stock the northern streams with the best
fish
remarkable illustration with regard
to shad in the Connecticut appears in the
report Of the fish commissioners Of Mas
sachusetts, submitted to the Legislature
last January. After some account of the
process Of Matching shad, BY which in the
spring of 1870 there were Matched and
turned loose at IIadIey Falls, in the Con-
necticut River 60 900, 900 Of embrvos, the
report describes the enormous take in that
river For years the supply of shad had
been falling off, from the curtailmcnt of
hatching grounds lily the da ms in the river
and by the modern modes Of catching fish.
which are very destructive In May, 1870,
the enormous influx Of shad was without
precedent. The report says:
"Un Sunday. May u, vessels in Long
island Sound observed the unusual spec
tacle Of vast shoals OF shad The next
day they struck in at and about the mouth
of the river and filled the nets At Lin
coin, ten miles from the mouth, and on the
coast $500 fish We're taken in one pound,
600 usually large catchl and the total
Weld of the pounds for that div was d.
600. At Hudson Island a short distance
up the river, 700 were taken at one sweep
Of the seine, which is more than one-third
Of the yield of similar seine for the whole
of the previous season. A seine four
miles below Hartford took 900 the same
day. Now, it does not appear that
on the Hudson, to the west or on the
Merrimack, to the east, the run of shad
was usual. On the contrary, both of
those rivers report a small average
Whence, then, this local phenomenon
The Connecticut people call them Green
shad' attributing the increase TO artificial
Matching by Seth Green at lIadley Falls
in ls67.' CIT takes three or four wears
Tor the shad to maturc.)
This is Il very interesting and conclu-
sivc piece of testimony. BY the process
of artificial Matching nearly all the eggs
are hatched, and the Young fish maturpd
BY the natural Matching, with the sub
structions now in every river, but very
small proportion of the eggs deposited
bryos, when hatched, perish. 1t is con-
jectured not over ten per cent. are matur-
ca
Mr., Green is hero, as we have said. to
show what can be done in Matching the
eggs Of the shad. But the river is 50 high
and muddy that it will be difficult to catch
the shad. If in the Mattaponi or the
Pamunkey shad can be caught in the pro-
per condition, an experiment will be made
The Legislature, unfortunately, so delay
ed action that there will be nothing done in
the way of stocking the river with shad
this year.
Love.
Who is he in youth, or in maturity or
even in old age, who does not like TO
hear Of those sensiblities which turn curl
ed heads at church, and send wonderful
eyebeams across assemblies from one to
one, never missing in the thickest crowd ?
The keen statist reckons by tens and hun
dreds; the genial man is interested in
every slipper that comes into the assem-
bly,. The passion, alike everywhere,
creeps under the SHOWS of Scandinavia,
unlrI the lirnS of the nnuatn,. nnL Su1naS =