Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1909-04-22

THE cultivation of the soil marked one
of the earliest steps in mans advance
from savagery, and its beginnings
were already lost in the mists OF antiquity
when the first crude attempts were made
toward increasing the natural productive
ness of the waters.
Vastly inferior to agriculture though II
be, both in age and economic Importance,
auuiculture-the culture of the waters-is
nevertheless of respectable antiquity and
of no mean value as producer and con-
server OF wealth.
Fish-culture was first practised by the
Chinese, who at a time so remote that
there is no record Of its beginnings, placed
in the streams fagots and faScines OF thrush,
upon which breeding fiSh-probably carp
could spawn. The eggs were removed
and hatched nearby, or else sold for trans
port, to stock more distant ponds and
streams.
The ancient Egyptians also knew the
art of fish-culture, and we later hear OF it
in Rome during the republic. There are
pictures extant showing the methods OF
that day, which were wholly different
from those of the Chinese, dealing, too,
with distinct species of fish.
bitches were dug inland from the sea,
into which the fish ran at certain seasons
to deposit their spawn, their egress and
that of their progeny being prevented by
flood-gates. The breeding fish, after de-
posting their eggs, graced the tables of
the luxurious Romans, while the young
hatched in the bitches were reared to ma
turity in captivity. The species cultivated
were the red mullet and the moray.
The early Germans, too, had fish-ponds,
some OF which to this day furnish an i'm
portant part of the food-supply of Central
Europe but in this case landlocked bod
les of water, either natural or artificial,
were stocked with breeding fish, the only
attention required being supply OF food.
1t is interesting to note that the Hawai-
iaus and other natives of the South Seas,
savages, perhaps, but of high order of
intelligence, followed much the same
methods, and had fiSh-ponds long before
the advent of the white race.
In the fourteenth century monk, Don
Pinchon, discovered the utility of boxes
and running water in raising fish from
naturally fertilized eggs, but the first Sue
cesSful attempt at artificial fertilization
was not made until l74S, when jacob, a
German, discovered the process. This
important discovery, from which modern
fish-culture may be said to date, made
little progress outside Germany for more
than three quarters of century; then its
principles were independently rediscov-
cred by Shaw, in England, in 1897, and
five years later by Gehin and Remy, two
French fishermen, whose process attract
ed the attention OF the distinguished Pro-
fessor Coste, and secured a government
grant.
In most spawning fish the eggs and milt
become so loosened in the body that
slight pressure tends to-discharge them in
stream, and the proper handling of the
fish and the application of the pressure
constitute the art of Stripping" and fer
tilizatien, the details varying with the spe-
cies. The process follows closely that of
nature, but il excelS it in the completeness
with which the eggs are impregnated.
Under natural conditions, when the fish
merely discharge the eggs and milt into
the water, many OF the former fail OF fer
tilization and die; but skilled stripper,
working with fully ripe and healthy fish,
will succeed in fertilizing practically all.
Formerly it was the custom TO fertilize the
eggs in considerable quantities of water,
under the assumption that this was ma
lures method, and therefore to be copied;
but experience has shown that superior
results are attained by the use OF the dry
method, in which the quantity of water
employed is merely sufficient to moisten
the container.
This method of stripping is followed
with practically all fish except those be-
longing to the family which contains the
black bass, crappies and sunfish, all of
which build and guard nests in gravelly
places, and for some reason not well un-
derstood do not give up their eggs under
pressure. Here again man bows to ma
ture, and merely facilitates the natural
course of breeding by supplying ready
made nests, by providing shelter for the
male fish, which stands on guard during
incubation, and by protecting and feeding
the fry when they leave the parental care
After the eggs are artificially fertilized,
their subsequent treatment varies with
their nature. Those of the trout and sal
mon are heavy, nonadhesive, and of large
size, and are hatched in shallow trays,
placed in troughs of cold, running water.
Shad and whitefish eggs are but little
heavier than water, and are hatched in
jars of special design, to prevent massing
and consequent suffocation of the eggs.
A current of water is conducted into the
bottom of the jars and out of the top, the
whole volume of eggs being kept in con-
slant circulation, while the fry, as they
are hatched, are automatically carried
over into suitable tanks or containers.
The eggs of the cod family, the mack
erel family, and some of the flatfish, on
the contrary, are buoyant, and float at the
surface of the sea. These pelagic eggs,
as they are called, when in state of na-
ture, are particularly well supplied with
oxygen, owing to the tossing Of the
waves, so they require special aeration,