THE FISHERY INTERESTS OF AUSTRIA. 591 



ried on, in a small way, pisciculture. Only by the strictest econo- 

 my lie was enabled to raise the required capital ; with his own hand, 

 in the spare time which the arduous life of a miner left him, he erected 

 all the buildings, &c, so that the Upper Austria Agricultural Society, 

 acknowledging his apparatus to be the most perfect in the whole 

 province, gave him, in 1870, $100, the first government prize for pisci- 

 culture. We give here the full report of the committee sent by the 

 Agricultural Society, as it is in every respect very suggestive and in- 

 structive : 



" The piscicultural establishment of Franz Eettenbacher consists of 

 two hatching-houses, five ponds for the growing fish, (Streckleiche,) and 

 one floating hut with a boat. In the two larger connected ponds, which 

 cover an area of about 1£ acres, a very pretty watch-house, with many 

 exceedingly practical contrivances, has been erected, from which all the 

 ponds of the establishment can be seen and watched ; all the buildings 

 and apparatus, by their simplicity, cleanliness,' and practical arrange- 

 ment, show the enthusiastic, enterprising, and rational pisciculturist, 

 whose fish, both in the houses and in the ponds, are all exceptionally 

 fine and healthy specimens. Franz Eettenbacher commenced his enter- 

 prise in 1858, on a very small scale ; up to 1864, his work consisted of 

 nothing else than the impregnation of several hundred, occasionally, 

 several thousand, trout-eggs, and the placing of young fish in the run- 

 ning water (his own property) near his house. After having labored six 

 years, no increase in the number of fish was observable, which doubt- 

 less was caused by the fact that the fish, when they had grown larger, 

 got into the government waters, into which his little stream flowed, and 

 even, when there was a means of communication, into the Traun Lake. 



"In 1864, Eettenbacher resolved to raise and feed the young fish which 

 might be hatched during the following winter in a closed house ; in this 

 he was entirely successful, as the 800 young fish (Salmo salvelinus) when 

 one year old weighed from two to seven ounces. Unfortunately, many of 

 the fish died after they had reached the age of one and a half years, 

 without exhibiting any outward sign of sickness, and in the course of 

 half a year one-half of the whole number had perished ; then this 

 strange mortality ceased of itself. According to later experience, Eet- 

 tenbacher believes that he fed the fish too much ; for, since he possesses 

 a larger number of fish, and therefore has not been able to feed them so 

 much as formerly, this mortality has ceased. 



"Since 1865, Eettenbacher annually has raised several thousand fish, 

 Salmo salvelinus, trout, and cross-breeds. Thecross-breeding, produced 

 by impregnating the roe of the Salmo , salvelinus with the milt of brook- 

 trout, has been very successful, as also the raising of the Salmo salvelinus 

 itself. Trout do not succeed so well, which seems to be caused by their 

 being fed with meat. During their infancy, the fish get calves' liver and 

 brains; later, lungs, entrails, and other cheap offal ; also, horse-flesh. 

 To every hundred-weight of live fish, Eettenbacher, on an average, 

 allows five pounds of food per day. 



