BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION, 281 



cial results commensurate with the expense, or that it has become * 

 matter of great public importance. It is true that, in some cases, arti- 

 ficial fish-culture has made it possible to transplant some kiuds of fish 

 to countries and waters where formerly they were not found, and that 

 in other cases it has facilitated this transplanting process, but these 

 results possess more of a scientific than of a financial interest. It is 

 absolutely certain that in countries where the most persistent and the 

 strongest efforts have been made to increase the quantity of fish in the 

 open waters by producing young fish in an artificial manner, as in France 

 and Norway, the hopes entertained of the economical importance of 

 artificial fish-culture have been thoroughly disappointed. I purposely 

 refrain from speaking about artificial fish-culture in America, because 

 I am not sufficiently acquainted with the condition of affairs in that 

 country, and have not been able to obtain any reliable information 

 on the subject, and finally because the experience gained there seems 

 of too short a date for forming any definite opinion. Suffice it to say 

 that in Europe artificial fish-culture has left nothing but disappointed 

 hopes, and in many cases even considerable financial losses. Under 

 these circumstances, and as in the whole of Europe there are on the 

 one hand about 500 private piscicultural establishments, but ou the 

 other hand only three such establishments supported by Govern- 

 ment funds, the German one at Hiiningeu, the Russian one at ISTikolsk 

 both of which, as we have seen, have cost enormous sums and have 

 been of little use — and the one at Engelstein on the Chiem Lake in 

 Bavaria, a small establishment for raising lake- trout, I do not feel justi- 

 fied in advocating the establishment at Government expense of insti- 

 tutions for raising young fish in an artificial manner ; all the less because 

 15 to 20 years ago people in Finland made very earnest, but also very 

 fruitless endeavors in this direction. I would also mention in this place 

 that a meeting of fishermen, pisciculturists and friends of the fisheries^ 

 called by the Austrian Fishery Association, and held in Vienna, April 

 29 and 30, 1882, under the auspices of the Austrian ministry of agri- 

 culture, answered one of the questions which came up for discussion, 

 viz, " Is it desirable to found piscicultural establishments at the expense 

 of the Government 1 ?" in the negative. 



If, however, the Imperial Senate should feel inclined to order fur- 

 ther experiments in artificial fish-culture in Finland, I am of opinion 

 that we ought to use a method of hatching roe which saves more space, 

 and, above all, which is cheaper than the one employed at Nikolsk ; and 

 I would recommend the well-known Norwegian method, which has been 

 found to answer the purpose in every respect, or, still better, some more 

 modern method, for instance, with the California or Williamson's hatch- 

 ing-boxes, which has been tried in Sweden and Germany. 



