The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1909-05-21


the annual yield will be hundreds
fold the entire original cost OF the
experiment. The fishermen have al
ready received TWENTY-FIVE thousand
one hundred per cent. Of the original
investment of the government, and
this, in hardly more than twenty-five
years, is a margin OF profit not easily
paralleIed.
The shad also has been the subject
of government solieitude on the At
lantic coast, and starting with almost
depleted streams, the Bureau of Fish
cries and several of the States were
able to build up and for years main
tain a great fishery for the people.
The absence of proper regulation Dy
the States, however, has resulted IN
destructive and excessive fishing; and
most of the adult fish are now taken
before they reach the spawning
grounds and become fully matured,
so that it has grown year by year
more dificult to secure sufficient eggs
for the hatcheries. AS result OF
recent wiser regulation in North Car
DINA. there has been immediate I'M
provement in the hatchery operations
in that State.
Fish culture has shown itself COM
petent to handle the problems pre-
scented, and as soon as the States
show some adequate appreciation OF
their duties, the now waning shad
supply can be re-established as
great producer Of wealth.
Some Proofs of Success.
That the whitefsh and other lake
species have been able to sustain
such heavy fisheries is undoubtedly
due to fish culture, although in many
waters it is difficult to adduce proof.
The capture of large numbers OF
certain well recognized races OF
whitefsh in some of the Great Lakes,
when the only known and, in some
eases, only possible source of supply
is through the hatcheries, is strong
argument in favor of the value OF
other hatcheries working with in
digenous races.
That hundreds of millions of Pa
cifc salmon planted in their native
streams as fry return as adult fish is
clearly shown by the capture OF adults
which we're marked when liberated
a few years before That the proper
ton of these hatchery fry reaching
maturity is considerable is shown by
the results of the same experiments.
In an article of this scope it is i'm
possible to mention more than few
of the thirty-five or forty species reg
ularly Matched by the Bureau OF Fish
cries, and nothing at all can be said
of the interesting experimental and
practical work done with oysters,
clans and mussels, Holsters and crabs
| turtles, terrapin and sponges, or or
the study and treatment of the dis
eases of fish, or of the many other
problems confronting those interest
ed in the improvement of the fish,
cries. Enough has been said, how
ever, to show that fish culture is OF
no mean value in the making Of the
nations wealth.
There have been failures, many of
them. but on the whole they have
| been fewer than the successes. The
field still open is broad and attractive.
Many problems are yet to be solved
and many successes yet to be
achieved, not the least of which may
well be the demonstration to the far
mer that his waste pond and idle
creek, his acre or two of worthless
swamp, may at slight expense be
made to yield a value in food. prod7
ucts greater than from the same num-
Der of acres of his best titled and
richest soil.-The Youths Compan-
! ion