The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1883-10-11
THE FATHER OF FISH CULTURE.

THE FATHER OF FISH CULTURE.
Seth Green's Ideas About the Finny
Tribe ana Some Of His Varied Ex-
periences.
(rurf Field and Farm.)
"How did you ever come to devise this
scheme?"
II have been working at it ever since
was large enough to bend a PIN"
The above remark was addressed to
Mr.. Seth Green, the veteran fish cul-
turist; who is known to the entire world !.
and his reply indicates the extent of his
labors.
"When. l was quite young" he con.
tinued; y would lie ON the limbs oftreee
that reached out over the water entire
afternoons watching the movements OF
the fish and studying their habits. In
this way discovered many character
istics which were before unknown. I
saw, as every observer must see. the de.
structive elements that are warning
against fish; and realized that unless
something were done, the life in the
streams OF this country would become
extinct. To counteract this disastrous
end became my life work, and I am
happy maa{ to say 1have seen its accomplish
"We,e you successful on the start?"
"No, indeed. Up to that time all arti-
fetal attempts to hatch and raise fish
from the spawn had failed, and ! was
compelled to experiment in an entirely
new manner. The work was a careful
and tedious one, but l finally succeeded
and to-day am able to hatch and raise
fully seventy.tive per cent. Of all spawn"
Enormous! Why that is larger per-
centage than cit her the vegetable or an
imal Kingdoms p reduce in a natural con-
dition."
II know it, but we exercise the great.
est care in the start, and guard the lit le
fellows until they become able 10 care
for themselves"
The foregoing conversation occurred
at Caledonia where the representative
of this paper was paying visit to the
state fish hatcheries. It has been his
privilege to report very many interest
ing sights within the past twenty-five
years, but the view presented here ex-
ceeds in interest anything ever before
attempted.
"How many fish are there in those
ponds, Mr.. Grecn?"
"As we have never attempted to coun
them it will be impossible to say. They ex-
tend way up into millions though. We
shipped over three millions cut of the
pond this year and there seemed to be as
many afterward as before. We have
nearly every variety of the trout family
and many hybrids.
you speak of hybrids, Mr.. Green,
What do you mean by that?"
II have experimental for years in
crossing the breed of the various fish and
am still working upon it. We cross
the female salmon trout with the male
brook trout, and thus produce hybrid
Then We cross the hybrid with the brook
trout, which gives us three'quarter
brook trout and one-quarter salmon
fishes in the world. He has all the hab-
its of the brook trout, lives in both
streams and lakes, develops vermillion
spots on his sides, rises readily to a fly,
is far rsore vigorous and fully one-third
larger than the ordinary brook trout Of
the same age. The possibilities Of de-
velopmnt in the fish world are great and
we are rapidly ascertaining what they
are"
As the man of news watched the coun-
ing the above account, he could not but
feel that he was in the presence of one
OF the lew investigators who, from rich
and lifelong experience, bring great
benefit to the world. Let the reader n.
a CINE strong and stalWart fame, sur
III ounted by head strongly resembling
that of Socrates and covered with white
silky beard and luxuriant gray hair. Seth
Green, the father Of FISH culture, is a pic
ture of health, and the reporter could
not help remarking 80.
1T you had seen me the last winter
and spring, young man, you might have
thought differently" said the veteran.
"How is that? One would think, to
look at you, that sickness was something
Of which you knew nothing"
"And SO it was until last winter. I went
down into Florida in the fall to see what
kind of fish they had in that state and
study their habits and was attacked with
malaria in its severest form, and when l
came home [ realized for the first time
in my life, that l was sick. My symp.
toms were terrible. [ had dull, aching
pains in my head, limbs and around my
back. My appetite WAS wholly gone, and
l felt lack Of energy such as | had Oft
ell heard described but had never ex-
perienced. ANY one who has ever
had severe attack of malaria can appre-
ciate my condition. went to bed and re-
manned there all the spring, and if there
ever was sick man l was the one"
1T seems hardly possible. How did
you come to recover SO completely"
MY brother. who had been afflicted
by a severe kidney trouble and threat.
encd with Brights disease was COM
pletely cured by remedy in which I
had great confidence. therefore tried
the same remedy for my malaria and am
happy to say am well man to-day and
through the fundamentally Of Warmers
Safe Cure, which believe to be one Of
the most valuable ofmedicines. Indeed,
] see it is endorsed by the United States
medical college of New York, and that
DR.. Gum. dean of that institution, has
written long article concerning its val
ue;".
ly?"
apparently 80. I keep the remedy
on hand all the while though and do OF
hesitate to recommend it to Others
"One question more. How many
ponds of fish have you here and how are
they divided:
"Well, we have 43 ponds which are di.
vided up as follows: % ponds of brook
trout, ponds of salmon trout, 4 of Nc
Cloud river or rainbow trout, 2 ponds o.
German trout, 3 of California mountain
trout, ponds of hybrids, of one-quar
ter salmon and three.Quarters brook
trout, ponds of gold fish, and l pond
of carp. Then we have what we call the
centennial pond or happy family con
sisting of crosses of different fish, inclu
ding Kennebec salmon, Land Locked sal
mon, California salmon, brook trout, sal
r.on trout and hybrids. These fish range
in size from minnows to 1S-pounders
and in age from one -and-onc-h half months
to eleven years. l forgot to say, also
that we have hospital pond, which i
entirely empty, which speaks prett!
we'll for community of many millions
Indeed the whole secret Of fish culture
can be summed up IN four things. I'm
pregnation,-usingn no water. Plenty O
food. Plenty of prfre water and cleanli'
ness"
The numerous fish exhibitions which
are taking place in all parts Of Europe
and the unusual interest which is bein
manifested in this subject Throughout
the world all owe their origin to tb
process above described as originated
and cnn6,ctoI nv Seth (1rarn r. !