Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1872-11-20
Miscellany.
Fisheries and Fish Culture.


upon the subject of fish culture He
doubted whether any whether any who
would listen 10 his remarks had ever Civ.
EN- the subject much attention. The ca.
pacity of streams to produce fish was
sometimes determined by their rental. The
river Tweed, in Scotland, rents for just
an even ono hundred>thou>and dollars per
annum. for the salmon that can be eau .ht
from it alone. Two streams. six and eight
mites long respectively, rented for S50OOo.
The Spay rented for sixty thousand, aud
the Tay for eighty-fve thousand dollars
From.the salmon rivers of Scotland there
was sent to the markets OF London, in the
period OF. fifteen years, a value in salmon
OF sS,6s9,5OO, asd this at price twen.
ty per cent. lower than the price of the
same fish in this country. or at about the
same price Of mutton The large home
consumption, and also what was sent to
Ireland, was to be added to this amount.
Have We within our borders the possi-
bilities of wealth like this We have
three great watersheds sloping toward the
Connecticut river the St. Lawrence, and
the Hudson. None of the streams in
Scotland, he had previously stated, were
as large as the Connecticut. Quoting
from Thompson's Vermont and from DR..
Williams history of Vermont, he found
ample evidence that salmon once plcnii-
fully abounded in the waters Of this State
that had au outlet to the sea. At the
time Thompson wrote his work, the auth.
or said salmon were exceedingly rare, he
being unable to procure specimen with
which to illustrate its pages DR.. Viii.
Jams spoke Of the salmon going up the
Connecticut river about the 18th of April
and appearing in Lake Champlain little
later. That they were inhabitants of the
Lamoilc and MinOoski rivers is a well es-
tahlished tradition. DR.. Goldsmith gave
as evidoucc Of the former great abundance
of salmon in Lake Champlain, the state
mcnt once made to him by the late Mr.
Fouquet of Plattsburgh, N. Y, descrlb.
lug the watching for the first appearance
of these fish in the spring, and the singu
lar commotion which they made nthe wa.
i ter. 1..fi .-.. .'.''''
The speaker also related the tradition,
familiar even to this day along the valley
of the Connecticut river, if nowhere else,
how men who hired out to service on
farms, used 10 Stipulate as part Of the
consideration that they should not be com,
pelled TO eat salmon more than twice d
week. 4. s, 81. .3.E .e .I.. grI
The salmon consume no food. They
gudown to the sea when they arc very
snail, and in the deep cold waters of the
Northern Atlantic, they find the food up
on which they grow fat Their average
increase IA five months is about hv,
pounds. They come back the second yeal
weighing about Ten, and the third yeal
about fifteen pounds. He related an ex
pertinent of the Duke of Athel with {
salmon, upon which he put an ear mark
and turned loose, that returned in thirty
days with eleven and onc-half pounds ad
ded to bis avoirdupois. The doctor tho
it wonderful good investment of five
cents, to put it into a fish that in thret
years would weigh fifteen pounds, wortl
thirty cents per pound and not cent ou
for food or care And he was sure tC
, come back to the waters from whence hi
started. This had been well established
, by repeated experiments.
You will perhaps ask, said the speake
if these fish are SO easily produced, VIII.
} can't yol put them in the streams, anc
| the next time the Legislature assemblies
give them bro!ed salmon for breakfast a
five. cents D. There is something TO b,
) d,ne to bring this about Going dowl
=. |
| stream is all very easy. but to come bacl
, is another and more difficult thing Th'
speaker then described fish ladder
t such as was necessary to help the return
ing fish to overcome obsta cles in the strean
f either natural or artificial, The genera
! law in M other states in re
t laton to these fish ladders, was that wher'
the obstacle was a natural one. the com
) monwealth paid the expense, but wher'
/ it was artificial. the obstructor must foo
, the bill but the ladder must be built
4 whoever pays the expense, or no fisl
] could pass up. 4ats sA94t1,ts @'
Some interesting statements we're mad
, as to the number Of fsh with which art ant
science could populate the streams, th'
limits being circumscribed only by thu
limits Of breathing room, keeping in miu'