The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1872-06-15
Pisciculture.

TFrom the " ashington Chronicle.I
One of the MOST remarkable among
our new industries is that of fish eul-
t1lre. We call it new only as relating
to our country, for this branch of pro
duction of animal food was practiced
by the Chinese as far back as history
can trace that singular people. The
Romans also practiced fish culture. III
order to supply their epicurean tastes
with as wide range us possible. In
this Western World, however, the
abundance of our spontaneous supply
made us suppose that we had an IN
exhaustible fund to draw upon III our
waters. Of late years, however, we
have found even these wonderful re-
sources falling. In the States upon
the Atlantic seaboard the growing
scarcity of fish, where formerly there
was great abundance, has for some
time been creating deep concern both
among the people and III the authorl-
ties. In 1865 complaints were made
bv the States of New Hampshire and
| Vermont that shad and salmon, once
SO numerous within their borders,
were cut off by dams in the Connec-
ticut and Merrimac rivers. The State
of Massachusetts, under whose au-
th0rity these dams had been erected,
endeavored to remedy the mischiefby
establishing fishways over them. But
it was soon discovered that the diff
Guilty was no longer local one. 1t
soon manifested itself in the waters
below the dams, and in all the lead
ING rivers of the coast.
To ascertain the cause of this grow
inc scarcity Of fish in our rivers, and
TO devise and execute remedies, com
missioners were appointed by the
New England States, New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Several of these boards have, with
great energy and intelligence, applied
themselves to their work, and have
already produced marked results.
Among the methods adopted for the
restocking of our waters is the over
coming of artificial obstacles present
ed by dams for manufacturing i'll diff
ferent rivers by establishing tishways,
thus enabling the fish to resume their
old spawning grounds in the higher
portion of the streams. A still more
effective method. however, is found i'll
the artificial Matching of spawn. fh2
uncomfortable number of eggs tlad
are annually voided by fish in oul
waters would soon crowd all then
available space with animated exist
ence if one in IL thousand escaped the
-lavages of enemies continually vast
ing them. A salmon, for instance
will lay Il thousand eggs for every
pound Of her weight, while good
! sized cod fish will spawna million. II
!. then, the formulated eggs are placed
. in situations i'll which they are pro
tected from their destroyers it is easy
E to see that the number of fish may bt
, multiplied ad intinitum.
This method has been energetieally
!, pursued, not only by the commissions
ers of the States, but also by public
spirited individuals. Among thu
leading minds in the organization o
this nlw production is Seth Green, o
/, New York, the inventor of artificial
shad culture. In 1867, under til,
jomt patronage Of the Massachusetts
and Connecticut Commissioners, thi
! gentleman commenced his expert
= ments in the Connecticut river. A
first he was able to hatch but two pc
cent of the ova; his second attemp
= reached seventy per cent, and hi
= third ninety per cent. In three week
he put forty millions of young shad il
the river. In 1868 he produced siXt.
: millions. As the result of his labor
the catch in the Connecticut i'll lo7
exceeded that of any year subsequent
to 1902. His subsequent expert
:. ments ON the Hudson were S
, successful as to lower the price of ifs
: in the New York market from siXt
to thirty five cents. These facts ~
! but imperfect indications of the ex
. tent to which pisciculture is to be cal
" ried. Its benefits to society are ye
to be estimated.
: This is Il Rochester. n. Y, receil
"a f,,. ,,,oJ-ipu co,,,,. rTaI.a =. mill ,