New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-05-05
Fish CULTURE.
Stocking Fresh Waters with Food Fishes
The Mississippi Riyer-ApprOpriatiO
Asked For-InterestinR PAPER by Pro
fesSOr Baird = II 80 - IL

Asked FOr-InterestinR Paper by PRO
fesI or Baird. Ut 80 = = :
Correspondence st. Louis Democrat
WASHINGTON, April %, I872.-In a dis
patch lew days ago, mention was mad,
Oh paper by Professor Baird, of thu
Smithsonian Institute, on the cnltnre q
fish. referring especially to the pronositior
made by the Fish Culturist Association *
undertake the stocking of the fresh water,
of the United States, especially those n
the Mississippi valley, with the best yarie
ties of food fishes, and asking aid for thu
enterprise from the general government
Professor Baird's paper on the subject wal
written at the request of Dir. Garfield
chairman of the House Appropriation Com
mittee, and was placed in his hands for tht
information of that committee while de
iberating whether to recommend an an
prODriatiOn. The association asks for nc
particular amount, but $4,000 is the SUN
suggested. The following is the article re
ferred to, and, treating as it does of sub
ject of great Importance to the West it car
not fail to be read with interest:
FISH CULTURE IN ANCIENT TIMES.
The subject of increasing the supply OF
fishes in fresh waters has occupied the at
tentiOn of mankind from a very remote
| period. The experiments and the successes
of the Greeks and Romans in cultivating
various species for the table are matters OF
| history. The extravaganza of the banuuets
at which such artiicially fed and reared
fish figured is a matter familiar to every
! reader of the classics. A similar policy bias
been pursued by the Chinese as far back as
| their historical records extend, and it is to
the utilization in part of the fresh waters of
the country in this respect that it is enabled
to support so large population. In Japan
! the same process prevails, though pei haps
/ L
! from fresh waters or from the sea, cOnsti-
tutes the almost exclusive diet of a nation
! of more than thirty millions of people,
| where other varieties of animal food are
scarcely to be met with. The small extent
of the land, with the dense population, pre-
| vents the use of more than limited Dor
| ton for grazing, and consequently it is
impossible to devote the necessary area to
| the sustenance of domestic animals.
THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF FISH.
1t is not very long since this subject began
to attract the attention of modern European
nations, leading them to take measures to
increase the supply of fish available for
food. These, as far as relates to the fresh
waters, are of the following kinds: Those
which go up from the sea to deposit their
egg and return again; those which go down
to the sea to deposit their spawns. and those
which live permanently in fresh waters
Among the first may be more particularly
mentioned salmon, shad, and the fresh
water herring, or ale-wife. The young of
these, after remaining for a certain time in
the vicinity of their spawning beds, 90
down to the sea, and at the expiration Of
two or three years, return to the place of
their birth TO carry on the process Of Gepro-
ductiOn. The second class is illustrated
more particularly by the eel, which laws its
eggs in salt water, and the young fish as
cend the fresh waters and remain until
they have attained a certain maturity, after
which they descend again to the sea, prob
ably never again to quit it. The third class
embraces the ordinary fish of fresh water,
especially the cypriRj doe or carp, suckers
and club family, the eScldtB, or pike, pick
erel, the percOidE. or perch, black bass, pike
perch, etc, and the fresh water salmOhidB.
THE BEST FOR THIS COUNTRY.
The SaIROnid0, including the trout and
the Uhitetish, and the St1y7oni9oe. or stur
geOn, are the kinds of fish among which, so
far as the United States are concerned. are
to be found the most important for cultiva-
ton as food. 1t sometimes happens that
fish which run from the sea may remain
permanently in fresh waters finding all the
conditions necessary TO their growth. on
being penned in by natural barriers This
Is said to be the case sometimes with the
salmon, and not Unfrequently with the
smelt. Again, the fresh water species some
times extend tfeir range into the sea- and
become to some extent aH0drOnleO1ts This
Is the case to a certain extent with the front
and whitetish. The subject of treating
these several tlshes as already remarked
has occupied great attention in Europe. and
the interest connected with it has extended
to the United States, and already great pro-
gress has been made in accomplishing the ,
object in view.
THE EXTERMINATION OF THE FISH.
1t is well proved that in the earlier his
tory of America the rivers of the Northern
and Eastern States abOunded more esneci-
ally IN salmon; and the fact is familiar TO
very one that they were so commonly used
rs food that apprentices and wOrkmen
would stipulate that they should not be re-
lulred to eat them Oftener than three times
n a week. Their range extended alone fine
Atlantic coast as far south as the Connect
.ut, and IN the northern lakes they were
Ound IN abundance, in Lake ChampIain
md Lake Ontario up to the Falls OF Maya
a. AT present they have become almost
Xtermlnated, scarcely being found on the
outh side of Lake Ontario, and still more
eldom III Lake Champlain, ard the few that
o IN ghe rivers OF Maine are not enough to
eepup the supply.
nv" oHALL 4liE1 BE RESTORED
With the cause of their determination we
ave nothing to do at present the problem
Jr special consideration being how to re- !
tore the supply to something like its form
abundance 1t is a matter much more
aSllY accomplished than is generally an ,
reclated. Fish Of this character 90 not
7qulre to be fed, and only need uninter-
1pted access to suitable spawning grounds
nd protection for their eggs and young
urlng a certain period. If, however, the
-ream has been entirely emptied of its an {
erroneous hshes by any cause, it is idle to {
Xpect any spontaneous restoration of the [
apply, even if there be an abundance of t
re hshes IN question in waters on either '
de OF 1t. Artificial propagation is abso-
ltely imperative III this case. The ascent
a stream by fish for the purpose Of t
1awning, presuppOses the previous descent
a young fish 1t therefore becomes ne {
essary to introduce the spawn, or the t
Duhg Oh the species, in the headwaters of 9
le stream, so that they may descend to the S
a., and ultimately find their way back a
gain as mature fish. The time required t
+ stocking the stream will neces- a
rIIy depend upon its magni- i
Ide and the number of eggs and
)ung fish introduced, and the number of
eclmens which survive the perils of early
e and obtain the age of spawning As 5
T as the stocking of interior waters of c
nlted extent is concerned, there is aupa- e
ntly little cause for invoking the aid of a
neral government, as the result would T
we comparatively little bearing upon the c
0nOmy of the nation. The case, how p
er, Is very different with respect to such J
dies of water as the Mississippi river and s.
g great lakes. There the magnitude of a
e interests involved is more like that re- u
ing to the inhabitaut of the sea, and if b
3 original food fishes have been extermin- n
ed, or proper kinds never existed. it ! r.
'uld be subject eminentIy worthy the Je