The Ottawa free trader., 1889-02-09

special Correspondence
JAMAICA, L. l., Feb 4.-There is nothing
new under the sun. From time mmemorial
the Chinese have made IA speciality of fish cul-
ture, and have utilized for that purpose every
small body Of water in the neighborhood of
their great cities, In many instances they
have excavated swamps, whose low level
prevented drainage, and converted the re
sulting holows into ponds of the best type.
The demand for fish food in New York has
already produced similar results. In the ter
ritory ad acent to Manhattan Island are
hundreds, if not thousands, of persons who,
although they are not fishermen, make a
good living by supplying fish to the 100000
human beings who practically make up the
population of New York city. Few people
have the slightest knowledge of the extent of
the industry or of the many ingenious ex-
pedients which are employed 10y the persons
engaged.
" DR.. Francis Wyatt the distinguished agri-
cultural chemist, says: "There is every rea-
son why fish culture should he made II fea-
ture of industrial life. The experience OF
France and Germany, as well as Of the East,
shows that an acre of water will produce
more and better food than an acre of land.
Nature supplies the marine kingdom with
enough food to support the most crowded
pond or stream, and man can help her
almost illmitably Besides this there is
more economy IN fattening fishes than any
other form of animal life A fish is cold
4 L,,t
to produce the small amount of heat it re-
quires to keep its vital functions in good or
der warm blooded animal must have a
certain amount of food for the sole purpose
of generating heat To put it in plain fig
ures, a hundred pounds of swill or garbage
properly administered would increase an
average hogs weight about two pounds, but
would increase that of an equal weight Of
fish by about twenty-five The day is not
far distant when all the ponds and swamps
will be set aside for the raising of fish food.
1t will be vast benefit to the community
and at the same time will be II source of
great profit to the farmer or fish grower"
In Queens and Suffolk counties, as well as
elsewhere on Long Island, the efforts of the
state fish commission have resulted III the
establishment of something more than hun
dred breeding ponds in which brook trout are
raised for the market. 1t goes without say
ing that this game fish will not share his
home with any other specimen Of the finny
tribe, and the man who raises trout there
fore raises trout only. The country is well
adapted to the purpose naturally and the
wonderful supply of fresh water which is
supposed to como from a vast subterranean
river running under Long Island, is clear
and strong enough to develop the fish to his
highest point of perfection.
These ponds are run, n number of them by
sportsmens clubs, for purposes of scien-
tific angling, but generally by traders who
raise the fish to make money This they do
in one of two ways, either by renting out
fishing privileges to anglers who have not the
entree to the club preserves, or 10y waiting
till the beginning of the ''open season. when
brook trout may be legally caught, and then
capturing the larger ones with nets and send
ing them alive to Fulton market. In this
way the favorite piscic dainty Of many epi-
cures finds its place on New York tables, and
Is tIJONttl W tli Ill ltl lStI II may
prove in the future that competition will
cheaper the price of brook trout, but up to
the present time it has not. The increased
supply has been met 10y an increased demand,
and the price has remained where it was
outside Of poor mans limit,
The trout are raised i'll these ponds, either
from the spawn or fry which is purchased
from the state commission at their famous
farm at Cold Spring, and the utmost care is
exercised in rearing the scaly beauties The
conditions of their natural habits of life have
been studied so carefully that it is compara-
lively easy TO reproduce those conditions and
as for food, the expense is small. Refuse
from the markets and from the table is dainty
enough to satisfy the front, and of all meats
he prefers chopped liver.
The carp, too, is far from particular about
his food as the word is generally understood.
He has been called the wafer hog, not only
because he is almost omnivorous, but because
he converts his food into flesh so rapidly. All
through the eastern part of the country carp
ponds have been established after the model
set by the United States fish commission Ill
their famous pond on League Island Here
carp have been raised most successfully, fed
on nothing but table scraps and growing at
an almost incredible rate with comparatively
little attention.
unique institution is the fish pier, which
is found on the south side of Long Island, on
both sides of Long Island sound and on many
of the rivers and arms of the sea in the vicin-
ity of New York. In its simplest form it
consists of two parallel lines of piles running
out hundred feet or more from the shore
and faced from high tide level to the bottom
with strong fish netting. At the end is an
arrangement of nets similar in construction
to the familiar fykes of English waters. The
fish swimming along the shore in quest OF
food encounter the pier and turn to go around
the incumbrance. At the end they pass into
the fyke and thence into the space between
the two walls, where they are securely inn
prisoned Once here it is easy for the pro
prietor of the pier to remove as many as he
desires for the market Among the fishes