The Dickinson press., 1883-10-13
THE FATHER OF FISH CULTURE,

-
Seth Green's Ideas About the Finny
Tribe and Some of His Varied Ex-
periences.
(Turf, Field and Farm.)
Chow did you eve come to devise this
scheme?"
~ have been working at it ever since
l was large enough to bend a pin"
The above remark was addressed to
Mr.. Seth Green, the veteran fish Gull
turist, who is known to the entire world,
and his reply indicates the extent of his
labors.
"When I was quite young" he con-
tinued, II would lie on the limbs oftrees
that reached out over the water entire
afternoons watching the movements Of
the fish and studying their habits. In
this way I discovered many character
istics which were before unknown. l
saw, as every observer must see. the de.
structive elements that are warning
against fish, and I 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 to say Ihave seen its accomplish
ment."
"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 l was
compelled to experiment in an entirely
new manner. The work was a careful
and tedious one, but 1 finally succeeded
and to-day l am able to hatch and raise
fully seventy.five per cent. ofall spawn"
"Enormous! Why that is a larger per-
centage than cit her the vegetable or an
imal kingdoms produce ina natural con
dition."
II know it, but we exercise the great
est care in the start, and guard the little
fellows until they become able 10 care
for themselves"
The foregoing conversation occurred
at Caledonia where the representative
Of this paper was paying a visit to the
state fish hatcheries. 1t 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.
Chow many fish are there in those
ponds, Mr.. Green"
"As we have never attempted to count
them it will be impossible to say. They ex-
tend way up into millions though. We
shipped owe 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, MI. Green,
What do you meal by that?"
~ 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 a hybrid.
Then We cross the hybrid with the brook
trout, which gives us three-quarter
brook trout and one-Quarter salmon
trout. This makes IL of the finest
fishes in the world. He has all the hab-
its of the brook trout, lives in both
streams and lakes, develops vermilIion
spots on his sides, rises readily to a fly,
is far 1. ore vigorous and fully one-third
larger than the ordinary brook trout of
the same age. The possibilities of de-
we are rapidly ascertaining what they
are"
AS the man of news watched the coun-
tenance of Mr.. Green while he WAS Civ
ing the above account, he could not but
feel that he was in the presence of one
of the lew investigators who, froma rich
and lifelong experience, bring great
benefit to the world. Let the reader in.
a CINE a strong and stalwart fame, sur
m ounted by q 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 so.
eff you had seen me the last winter
and spring, young man, you might have
thought differently" said tie veteran.
elbow 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 |
came home | realized for the first time
toms were terrible. [ had dull, aching
pains in my head, limbs and around my
back. My appetite was wholly gone, and
1 felt a lack Of energy such as l had Oft
en- heard described but had never ex-
perienced. Any one who has ever
had a severe attack ofmalaria can appre.
ciate my condition. Iwentto bed and re-
manned there all the spring, and if there
ever was a sick man l was the one"
sit seems hardly possible. How did
you come to recover SO completely"
my brother. who had been afflicted
by a severe kidney trouble and threat.
ened with Bright's disease was COM
pletely cured by a remedy in which 1
had great confidence. 1 therefore tried
the same remedy for my malaria and am
happy to say 1 am a well man to-day and
through the i~nstrumentality of Warmers
Safe Cure, which 1 believe to be one of
the most valuable ofmedicines. Indeed,
] see it is endorsed bv the United States
medical college of New York, and that
DR.. Gum, dean of that institution, has
written a long article concerning its val
ue;n ~ = -, vol, -.
ly?"
on hand all the while though and do not
hesitate to recommend it to Others"
"One question more. How many
ponds of fish have you here and iowa
they divided.
"Well, we have 43 ponds which are di-
vided up as follows: % ponds of brook
trout, 2 ponds of salmon trout, 4 of Nc
Cloud river or rainbow trout, 2 ponds of
German trout, 3 of California mountain
trout, 2 ponds of hybrids, 4 of one.quar-
ter salmon and three.quarters brook
trout, 2 ponds of gold fish, and 1 pond
of carp. Then we have what we cali 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
1.on trout and hybrids. These FISH range
in size from minnows to lS-pounders,
and mage from ne-and-one-halfmo months
to eleven years.. I forgot to cay also.
that we lave a hospital pond, winch is