HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



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other animals, offering themselves for sport and food 

 to the masses. Nor is the establishment confined 

 merely to the propagation of live stock, but includes 

 in its range of operations the manufacture of guns, 

 traps, alarms, foods of all kinds, and every requisite 

 of the sportsman. But it is not of this that I wish to 

 speak, but of one section alone, which particularly 

 attracted my attention, viz., the Aquatic Garden, or 

 Fish Culture establishment. It was a bright sunny 

 day when I visited it, and, conducted by Mr. John 

 Burgess, I walked through it and inspected the 

 multifarious features of interest presented to view. 

 In the first place, I was confronted by long rows of 

 ponds through which the water passed, and its roar 

 could be heard as it rushed through the sluices. But 

 the water, no matter how turbulent it may become, is 

 held thoroughly under control, so that at any moment 

 it can be arrested in its course or moderated in its 

 speed. Springing upwards in the water is a 

 luxuriant growth of many species and varieties of 

 weeds which impart to the water a singular beauty. 

 Some thousand different kinds are represented, and 

 Mr. Burgess informed me that it was his intention 

 to introduce some valuable varieties in course of time. 

 Beneath the shelter of the weeds swim many 

 thousands of trout and other fish, in perfect safety, 

 free from the multitudinous enemies which would 

 have surrounded them had they been born in open 

 waters. Under the influence of careful preservation, 

 protection, and good living, they flourish exceedingly, 

 and as one lusty trout after another rushes out of its 

 hiding-place before my optics, I am able to form a 

 correct conclusion upon their rate of growth. Many 

 of them are nine inches long, and these, Mr. Burgess 

 informs me, are yearlings, having been hatched out 

 artificially this time last year. I go forwards along the 

 path situated at the side of the ponds to the salmon 

 ponds, and here I observe the same prosperity reigning 

 among the fish and the same principle underlying 

 their method of culture. In one of the ponds Mr. 

 Burgess points out a landlocked salmon, that is, a 

 variety content to abide permanently in fresh waters, 

 and which does not descend to the sea, like the salmo 

 sala. Truly, it seemed quite contented with its lot, 

 and judging by its growth, which was eight inches in 

 one year, it had found its habitat quite satisfactory. 

 Onwards I sped to other sections of these wonderful 

 aquatic gardens ; and under Mr. Burgess' leadership 

 came to the lowly denizens of fresh waters. It would 

 never do to mix carp, roach, tench, etc., with the 

 kings and princes of the finny tribes which I had 

 just left, therefore, they are wisely confined in other 

 quarters, just as comfortable and complete in arrange- 

 ment, but made on different principles. I remarked 

 to Mr. Burgess upon the large amount of space 

 which he gave up to them,>nd he replied, ",true, but 

 it is not the expense and trouble incurred in their 

 propagation that I mind, if I can but encourage the 

 cultivation of these neglected coarse fish." The 



humble angler will rejoice at these words, for he ha? 

 long since agitated his mind as to the future of the 

 fish he loves to angle for on Sunday mornings when 

 he communes with nature and his float. Here at 

 least is one champion of the finny lower orders, and 

 may there be many more, because, much as I regret 

 to say so, there is a decided falling off in the 

 numbers of the fish in question. Mr. Burgess says 

 truly, " that river traffic does tremendous injury to 

 their ova," which are shed on the rushes and weeds 

 and oftentimes washed away and destroyed. What 

 interested me greatly in this aquatic garden was the 

 section devoted to fish acclimatization. A worthy 

 science this, and one closely knit with fish culture 

 being capable of effecting much good ! But Mr. 

 Burgess considered that it was also capable of doing 

 much injury, and deprecated the hap-hazard planting 

 of foreign fish, for, said he, the act of stocking open 

 waters with a strange fish whose habits are unknown, 

 is nearly as destructive as pouring into waters noxious 

 ingredients. The one upsets the balance of nature, 

 the other occasions plague and famine. In enclosed 

 waters, Mr. Burgess said, the case is different, and 

 great advantage is frequently gained by turning 

 suitable foreign fish, say of transatlantic origin „ 

 therein. In one of the ponds I saw the whitefish of 

 America ; in another, the rainbow trout of California j. 

 in another, the brook char of the United States, &c, 

 all of which were prospering, and exceeded our own 

 fish in rate of growth. 



After inspecting all the ponds I retraced my steps 

 and was led by Mr. Burgess to the hatcheries, [and 

 there I saw the first stage of all in the operations of 

 fish rearing. On all sides of me, as I entered the 

 houses, were rows of tanks filled with ova, which 

 were yielding the tiny trout and salmon, and which 

 could be observed, long before they issued forth, 

 inside the ova struggling to free themselves of their 

 shells. Very curious objects they looked in the 

 water as they strove to exercise their newly acquired 

 organs of propulsion with but a small amount of 

 success, and the effort which it cost them was so- 

 great as to occasion them to indulge in repeated andt 

 prolonged periods of repose. Here, then, was the 

 storehouse of infant fish-life that will shortly be 

 distributed in barren waters, or in those requiring 

 supplementary supplies ; and millions of young trout 

 propagated by this artificial system will be sent to 

 any part of the kingdom whose waters may require 

 stocking. The distribution of fish-life brought about 

 by the improved methods of transmission is now an 

 easy matter. Mr. Burgess, who has invented and 

 manufactured his own fish carrier, says he never 

 experiences any loss in transmitting fish, and added, 

 by way of illustration, that a few days since, some 

 perch were sent to the north of Scotland by him. and 

 although confined in his fish carriers for forty-eight 

 hours, they arrived quite safely at their destination. — 

 Naturalist. ^ 



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