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

mEsts OF antiquity when the first
crude attempts were made toward in
creasing the natural productiveness
of the waters.
Vastly inferior to agriculture
though it be, both age and economic
Importance, aqui-cuiture-th cul-
ture of the waters-is nevertheless
of respectable antiquity and Of no
mean value as producer and con-
server OF wealth
Fish culture was first practiced by
the Chinese, who at a time so re-
mote that there is no record of its
beginnings, placed in the streams fag-
OTIS and fascines of brush, upon which
breeding fish-probably carp-could
spawn. The eggs we're removed and
Matched near by, or else sold for tram
sport, to stock more distant ponds
and streams.
The ancient Egyptians also knew
the art of fish culture, and we later
hear Of 1t 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 GER
tain seasons TO deposit their spawn,
their egress and that of their progeny
being prevented by hood-gates. The,
breeding fish, after depositing their
eggs, graced the tables Of the luKu-
rious Romans. and the young Matched
in the bitches were reared to matu-
rity in captivity. The species culti-
waited were the red mullet and the
moray.
The early Germans. too had fish
ponds, some of which to this day
furnish an important part Of the food
supply Of Central Europe; but. in this
case landlocked bodies of water, eth
er natural or artificial. were stocked
with breeding fish, the only atten-
ton required being supply of food.
1t is interesting to note that the
Hawaiians and other natives of the
South Seas. savages, perhaps, but of
a high order of intelligence, followed
much the same methods, and had
fish ponds long before the advent of
the white rance.
In the fourteenth century a monk,
Dom Pinchon, discovered the utility
of boxes and running water in raising
fish from naturally fortified eggs,
but the first successful attempt at ar
tificial fertilization was not made
until 174S, when jacob, a German,
discovered the process. This impor-
tant discovery. from which modern
fish culture may be said to date, made
little progress outside Germany for
more than three-quarters of CEN
fury; then It's principles were inde-
pendently rediscovered by Shaw, in
England, In 1897, and five years later
by Gehin and Remy, two French fish
ermen, whose process attracted the
attention of the distinguished Pro-
lessor Coste, and secured a govern
ment grant.
In most spawning fish the eggs and
milt become so loosened in the body
that a slight pressure tends to dis
charge them in a stream, and the
proper handling of the fish and the
application OF the pressure consti-
tute the art of stripping and fer
tilization. the details varying with
the species. The process follows
closely that OF nature, but it 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 fertilization and die:
but a skilled stripper, working with
fully ripe and healthy fish, will sue
coed in fertilizing practically all.
Formerly it was the custom to fer
tilize the eggs in considerable guam
titles of water, under the assumption
that this was natures method, and
therefore to be copied; but expert
ence 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.
How the Eggs Are Treated.
This method of stripping is fol-
lowed with practically all fish except
those belonging to the family which
contains the black bass, crappies and
senfsh. all of which build and guard
nests in gravelly places, and for some
reason not we'll understood do not
give up their eggs under pressure.
Here again man bows to nature, and
merely facilitates the natural course
of breeding by supplying ready made
nests, by providing shelter for the
male fish, which stands on guard dur
inr Incubation and by nrntecting