New-York tribune., 1901-11-03

| 4IOLH lIle seas every year appears 10 be easy
task Some years the yield is better than Others
| but this Is largely a matter of luck. 1t is only
after long series of failures to catch the old
time abundance of mackerel. herring or cod
that one can tell that there is an actual diminu-
ton in the production. And even from stats-
ties Of this kind only approximate notion
can be had Of the right amount to capture in a
single season
! 1t is believed, however, that there is a much
better way to get at the result, though it is a
trife crcutous. In the ocean, on land ami
NAL life depends on vegetation for its support
There many carnivorous creatures in the
water but the little fishes and animalculR
which they feed live plants. And in the
water as on land plants derive their sustenance
from inorganic substances which they manu-
facture into living tissue. If therefore. such a
survey were made Of the seas would show
how much vegetation was produced there. then
it might be possible to figure out the amount
of animal life that could be sustained thereby.
Thus, il has been found that acre of cultivat-
ed land in Prussia Will produce about seventy
five pounds of beef year. There are naturalists
who hope establish a similar ratio between
/ the vegetable and animal life Of the ocean. Karl
Brandt in a paper which has been translated
for the latest volume of Smithsonian Reports
1900, tells something about their plans and
methods.
In the sea there are two general classes OF
vegetation. One includes seaweed kelp and
other plants Of considerable size. which are
found only along the shore. The other embraces
microscopic organisms, each consisting of only
single cell like the diatom, and distributed all
over the ocean. though not hourishing at great
depths. Plants need light. whether their abode
be terrestrial or marine Herr Brandt quotes
Schutt as saying: The sailor. who fancies he
has pure water under him really sails every
where in the midst OF rich vegetation" And
this microscopic vegetation it is which sustains
animal life and which corresponds to the past
where sheep and cattle fatten. The sea-
weed along the shore bears about the same rela-
tion the fishes the forests do 10 land ami
mails, so far furnishing food is concerned
The growth Of terrestrial plants is facilitated
by the presence OF certain compounds Of nitro
gen. These same fertilizers produce the same
effect in the ocean. and 10 drainage from
the land they are more abundant near shore
than out in midocean: but hat they are lntl-
,natelv connected with the development Of ami
nal as we'll as vegetable life there IS easily
proved In Germany much attention has been
given to raising carp Susta, who has written
on the subject says that in the poorest poh0S
rho ,,i.1d is about eleven pounds OF fish 70 the
acre The better ponds produce from three 20
six times as much whereas still others INTO
,,ticb 1inuid fertilizers drain from farms give
results about twenty times larger than those
first cited Consequently, in the researches
which are now being conducted into marine NE
The chemistry Of the sea water, as We'll as the
abundance. Of microscopic vegetable and animal
forms is carefully considered. Attention IS also
given to the presence of those species OF bacteria
,,bich have the power Of promoting and retard-
inp the DEVELOPMENT of nitrogen compounds.
When one reads about "piankton eXpedi-
IIyr baf - I
shin which is equipped with apparatus for bring
ino m SAMPLES of sea water for such an lnVeS-
tigation as has Just been described net or
very fine mesh is employed in this work. and IS
so managed as bring up vertical coluiiih
of water at considerable depth. Pains are taken
"a count the various organisms found in a given
volume of fluid owing to the incessant stlrrlns
I'D of the sea figures for one IocaHty are pe-
Iieve1 to b. fairly representative of a wide area
But an ideal survey Of this kind would embrace
frao1ent observations through a full year, ana,
tbough work of this kind has been carried on IN
all Iatitudes in the last dozen years, some Of
these INQUIRIES extended through only few
months.
Two results have thus far been reached by
such Investigations Microscopic vegetable ana
animal life is found to be more abundant IN
shallow seas than in deep ones. Herr Brandt ac-
counts for this fact by supposing that the fer
tiIizing material from the land is less diluted IN
the former regions than in the latter. The other
conclusion which has been reached is that life IS
:, arcric than in tropical waters,