The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-02-11
Fis,l-Cnlturc.:::

| The subject OF nin'culLuEe Is very pioPeii5
attracting a good deal OF public attention al
this time, and many OF your readers were no
doubt interested in the letter OF Or. w. b.
Robertson, one OF the State commissioners,
published in the Dispatch Of February 4th'
Your present correspondent shares Win you
the interest expressed in your editorial OIL
that date respecting The experiment. OF
placing 5000 young salmon in salt Roma tor
Mountain Lake., in Giles county. AS tothe
mountain trout put into the lake by General
uaupt, the experiment may be a SUCCESSFUL
one: and il SO, the lively picture you
draw of the piscatorial attractions OF
the place will probably be realized. But
- to the salmon. unless those from Cali
foynia are different in their habits from all
others of which we have any kn0Wied%2
here is reason to fear in entire failure. DR..
Robertson il, | believe, native OF ScolllnG,
and therefore might be presumed TO be IA.
milGr = it'll the habits Of 4 fish that aDoundS
10 mlny parts Of Scotland, adding no little
to tie food.supply Of that country, besides
anurdiug Il ra>t deal Of sport to the disciples
OF Hiak Walton. But DR.. Robertson must
hovc forgotten. If he ever read, what is said
ia the " Complete Angler' aboutthe salmon,
or be would not have yenturcd upon such
an experiment os that OF growing salmon in
lvesh-watcr lake or pond. ..
Let INC quote from that curious and most
entertaining work Qhc Complete angler, by
Izaak Waton0 what is said in chapter vii.
Of the salmon: /" He is accounted the king
of the fresll-watcr fish, and Is euer tired IN
11ucrS relating 10 the sea, yet so high or Tar
from it as admits Of no tincture Of salt or
brackishncss. He is said to breed or cast
his spawn in most rivers in the month Of
August. 1t is said, however, that those in
the river Severn spawn in May. They dig a
hole or grave in safe place in the 9rarei,
and thcrc place their spawn or eggs, after
Tue meter has donc his natural office and
then hide it most cuunngly, and cover it
over with gravel and stonc.'
70 this | will venture TO add what Hugh
Miller says in hi, Testimony Of the Rocks"
pagc $40, where ne is arguing to show that
the deluxe could not lave been universal,
from tbs fact that even the trcsh.watcr fishes
could not be kept alive for Il twelve month
(rhe period assigned 10 Noah'S hJod) ia a
universal deluge except by miraculous means.
1t Is in this connection that nc says: :" Ii
must be remembered, however, that even OF
SOME fishes uhOSe proper habitat IS Tie sea,
SUCH as the salmon, it is t.:e Jtial for the
maintenance 81 The species that The spawn
should De deposited in fresh wafer. nay, in
ruuning. fresh 'Cater: for in still wafer, how
ever pure. the eggs in 81 few weeks addIc and
die"
The cggs Of tue common trout also re-
uuirc 10 DC deposited in running, fresh
,rater. If this be so, ten General Haupts
trout vii! fare no better than DR.. Robert
sons salmon. But as to the latter have
still further and perhaps higher authority.
In the museum Of Animated Nature"
published in London by George Cox "a work
Of great excellence, atfordnG the most mi.
mute and accurate account OF the habits OF
animals, fish, and insectS,) it is said Speak
ing Of the salmon) it is migratory fish, cN.
islirg during one part OF the year III fresh
water. the other in the sea. 1t is native Of
the former, and shoals Of salmon annually
work their way up the rivers of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, and OF the northern
portions of the continent, for the sake of de-
posting their spawn.
Having gained the upper and shallowcr
part OF the river. the fish seek out clear,
yravelly beds, rhefe there is strong car
rent, and prepare TO deposit their eggs.
They proccedto make furrow with their
noses, working against the stream, for the
reception Of their spawn. At this season
both males and females are unit for food,
and undergo q considerable alteration in ap.
pearance. 1t is then called ''red-fsh."
The females have acquired dark color and
are called Z" black-fsD." 1t is unlawful to
take either reddish or black. fish, the prohi-
hition being intended for the propagation Of
the lace.
Important as this subjuct of fish culture is
il will never amount to much in Virginia
unless those who have the management of it
are men who know what they are about
who will devote their time 10 the study OF
the habits Of different kinds Of fish aud
thereby lie enabled to make proper aud iu-
diciOu, distribution Of this valuable food
supply, and to place the proper fish in the
streams that they properly belong to.
Without claiming for myself any rcmarka-
bic familiarity with the subject, but basing
my opinion on the observations Of IZaak
Walton and Others, who have written on the
salmon, l am very much afraid that Of the
10000 young salmon that our fish commits
sioDers have placed in different streams ia
| the Interior Of Virginia, but few, ii any, will
be alive at the next annual report of their
operations and this is for the plain and sim.
pie reason that in placing this particular
kind Of fish in these streams, the law of
| its nature has been yiolated-it being
| (as before shown a migratory fish, existing
| during one part Of the year in fresh water,
the other in the sea. Access to the sea being
| one Of the conditions Of lis existence, it
would therefore be idle to attempt its propa.
cation in any stream not atfording such ac-
cess, which not one Of those named in DR..
| Robertson's letter has. 1t is true that the
salmon has q wonderful faculty of surmount-
ing the ordinary distractions 10 the passage
of fSh-wituess the sdImon-ieapS Of Cole
raine. But take it that the locks and dams
of upper James river and its tributaries
would be rs impossible to them as the Falls of
Niagara, which are known to obstruct their
ascent of the st. Lawrence above Lake On
tario and its tributaries. Short streams,
such as the York, Elizabeth, Rappahannock,
and Roanoke, which, by giving ready access
TO the sea, would thus fulfil both conditions
Of existence and propagation of this valuable
| fsb, would thus seem TO be those that our
| fish commissioners must contine themselves
to III order to insure any reasonable success.
As to the Salt Pond it must be considered
| entirely out of the question; for as you
| Mr.. Editor, very forclbly remark, " 1t will
try their 1.-THE sa!mon'S) ingenuity and skill
to get doom the falls OF Little Stony to New
river, ana sure we are, That once down there
they will never be able to gel back TO the
Salt Pond"
Excuse the length of this communication,
but the importance Of the subject, and the
impossibility of making myself fully under
stood in shorter space, must be my apollo
gy. +. JOHNSTON.
Botetomt county, February s, 1876.
DEMOCRATIC VICTORY AT BINGHAMToE, n.
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