Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1879-06-27
OUR GOTHAM LETTER,
suMlIER AT LAST.

would ike to quote the oldest inhabi-
tant, but it would be useless; nobody
would believe him, and I venture to say,
on my personal responsibility, that I do
not remember so remarkable a season. We
have worn oYercoats during the past week,
and three days before had perspired under
Panamas at ninety-seven in the shade.
People get ready for the seashore one day,
and the next put on their winter flannels.
But now Summer has apparently come to
stay till after Fourth of July, and Ice Com
pany stock is buoyant once more.
''YATER FARMING"
If the title sounds funny the subject is
so interesting that profoundly regret my
inability to do it justice. 1t is a ''coming
issue"-this matter of ''Water Farming
and your farmer readers and city subscrib-
ers are alike interested in it. A person not
acquainted with this subject would laugh
in your face if you should tell him that a
three acre frog pond could be made to yield
more profit to a farmer. than three acre
potato patch; and that stream Of water
could be cultivated" to his great peeuni-
ary advantage. Yet this is all as true as
any fact in life. Fish are the most prolific
Of living creatures. A single sturgeon
contains nearly ten million eggs, cod and
herring millions, shad hundreds of thous-
ands, and even trout and bass several thous
ands, A pond or stream can be Stocked
with trout, bass, salmon and other fresh
water fish, or eggs Of the same at practi
cally no cost to the owner. With good
management these can all be Matched, and
in some cases in very few days. Once
hatehed the fish provide for themselves;
they need neither focd nor care, and they
convert worthless insects and waste water
grasses into the healthiest of human food.
The trout or bass in farmers pond cost
him nothing but the trouble of catching,
and compare fayorably on his table with
his choicest poultry or pork that has cost
him constant care and expense. Trout
sell at their season here at seventy-five
cents pound, and often higher, and all
fresh water fish finds good market at
fair prices. The only loss Of time or labor
is in the catching, and to reduce this it is
only necessary to make the fish abundant.
For the encouragement Of fish culture,
the Government and many Of the States
have provided Matching houses from which
young trout. bass and other fish are fur
nished in any desired quantity at only the
cost of package and freight. A dozen
farmers or gentlemen owning country seats
might, by the most trihing expense, com
bine and fill their ponds and streams with
young fish that would multiply faster than
they could catch them, and thus. furnish
luscious food for their own tables while af-
fording profitable occupation for the small
boys of the house, who could often earn as
much with their hook and line as full
grown man would in the cornfeld.
We have a fine Matching establishment
and Board of State Fish Commissioners,
who are only too anxious that people should
avail themselves of this important addi-
ton to the already long list Of profitable
farm products.
ROBBERY AS A FINE ART.
New York does nothing by halyes-ex-
cept mind her own business, She sits on
two of the most magnificent water. fronts
and sings fPinafore," while ten miles of
wretched, rotten, rat-eaten wharyes drive
away her commerce. That's her business /
Thousand of her little children are murder
ed by oYercrowded and lily ventilated
sehool-rooms, and she seems satisfied. That
is cher business" tool She-Well, both
sides of your paper would not begin to tell
how gloriouslY she leaves undone whatever
in her corporate capacity she ought to do;
and if I must draY line somewhere it
might as well be over her poor children's
graves as anywhere. But when you come
to private enterprise the scene changes.
Fabulous sums and boundless energies are
poured like water upon the laundering,
dripping wheel that drives the furious,
oFerstimulated civilization Of the hour. It
matters little whether the enterprise be
,rr11 i5 elevated NV. cbo,-,
petition and attrition Of acute minds to a
fine art or science. Robbery is one of these
fine arts now being rescued from low me-
dicocrity. 1t is indeed entitled to be class
ed among the exact sciences. Our thieves
are skillful, trained, ambitious; and are
the one body of men not to be disparaged.
They know when ever banker puts up his
exchanges; when every merchant sends his
cash to the bank; when every manufacturer
draws out his wage-money, and the habits
of nearly every man worth robbing. They
are content to wait weeks or months for
the safest and fattest time for plundering
their victims, Court records have proved
all these a thousand times. In sober earn
est / aver that WhOmsoever they deem it
profitable and safe to rob will be robbed;
and he who boasts he cannot be robbed
simply shows how little he knows of life
in great cities. An acquaintance of mine
who had frequently made that boast was
robbed twice in one day last month. Men
who are lawful smart" may battle the
thieves, provided they wear yaluables only
in the waist-coat, buttoned up tight reso-
lutely refuse to think of anything else, and
are incapable of being thrown of their
guard. But man cannot go through life
with no thought but Of 'FPickpockets" in
his mind. If these gentry think it worth
while to have your watch or pocketbcok,
they are going to have it-that's all.
All these thieves are we'll known to the
police, but the blue coats are believed to
be in allience with them, and several recent
develop the fact that there
are professional burglars ON the police force,
known TO have piled their nefarious arts on
their own beats, and yet neither imprison-
ed nor even moved from the forcel There
are many excellent and noble men on the
force, but as body they have sadly de-
in the past few years; and when
sometime in the future, makes up
its mind to attend to its own business, it
will have a lively time looking after the
criminals who have GRADUATE
ed during the present reign Of police inet-
fioiency. MORLEY.
New York, June, 1879.