284 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. 



stream there, and the consequence is they have multiplied 

 in all the tributaries of that river (and now afford fine 

 sport, as they rise beautifully at the fly, and are excellent 

 eating) as far down as the Great Falls, about twenty-five 

 miles above Washington. Not being anadroinous, they 

 show no disposition to shoot the falls and make their escape 

 to tide water. 



I would say further of the catfish, that any mercantile . 

 house at Philadelphia or Baltimore, in connection with 

 London or Liverpool, could easily procure a few score of 

 them and send them over. They are so hardy that the 

 steward of a steamer or sailing vessel, for a small fee, would 

 take charge of them, and land them with little or no loss in 

 numbers. 



In conclusion of this letter, I must thank you for the 

 instruction I have derived from your book on fish culture, 

 as well as that on angling ; and, further, would ask the 

 favor of your sending me any further information in a 

 printed form that has appeared on the stocking of salmon 

 rivers in Great Britain, the progress of the Thames Angling 

 Preservation Society, &c. A^ are making but slow pro- 

 gress in pisciculture here, but are beginning to open our 

 eyes to its advantages in bringing back salmon and shad to 

 the rivers from which we have banished them, and are 

 doing something at least to this end. 



By the way, if you could introduce our shad into your 

 rivers, it would be a great acquisition; its average size is 

 S^lbs. to 41bs., and it grows to Tibs. All of your country- 

 men who have eaten of it here can testify as to its juicy, 

 delicate flavor. It also smokes and salts down well. Fur- 

 ther in its favor, it is a sea fish, paying only one annual 

 visit to our rivers, and that for the purpose of spawning ; 

 deriving all its growth from its feeding-grounds at sea, like 

 the salmon, but, unlike that fish, increasing in fresh water, 



