BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 219 



in the Meuse. Now, this is a source of wealth which is most completely 

 slighted, and yet is exceedingly valuable. I could attest by statements 

 emanating from the highest authorities on the subject that, with a slight 

 expense, these watercourses could be peopled at will with excellent 

 fishes. In America this is done every day. The great Commission of 

 Fisheries established by the United States Government has led to posi- 

 tive results, which can be verified at any time, and which, if attained in 

 our country, would permit the stocking of the tide-waters of the Escaut 

 and the Meuse with river herring, shad, and still other fishes. 



1 mention the shad : we have in our country only an insipid shad, gen- 

 erally disdained — I mean the common shad. But there are others which 

 are superior to it ; there is one especially, the mere name of which makes 

 one's mouth water — the Alosa sapidissima. It is cultivated abundantly 

 in America, and could easily be so in our rivers. 



There already exists a treaty between Belgium and the Netherlands 

 in regard to the fisheries of the Escaut. It would therefore be very easy 

 •for our Government to act in concert with the Dutch Government. I 

 do not ask, however, that negotiations be engaged in which will absorb 

 very valuable time. I ask that our Government, after the example of 

 what has been done elsewhere, shall take the initiative in this measure, 

 without regard to what is done by her neighbors. Let her engage in a 

 work which will profit her; and should she sow benefits around without 

 deriving any profit herself, she would in that only follow great examples 

 and make an important beginning. 



On the subject of this sp< cial question of the fisheries, new relations 

 have recently sprung into being between different governments. One 

 notices a reciprocal- kindness and disinterestedness and eagerness to 

 oblige which hitherto have not been the characteristic feature of their 

 reciprocal relations. So we may observe to-day between the United 

 States, France, Switzerland, Italy, and England exchanges of fish-eggs 

 and of fry which attest a cordiality most remarkable and most profita- 

 ble. Not a year passes that the North Americans do not make impor- 

 tant shipments of fish in every direction; and they not only make pres- 

 ents of them to other countries, but [sometimes] send persons to accom- 

 pany each lot to give them all necessary attention, in order that they 

 may arrive at their destination in the best condition. Two recent facts 

 are of a nature to show you how much these new customs are developing. 



It is from Switzerland that I draw my first example. There are in 

 this country four piscicultural establishments, carried on under the ex- 

 clusive dominion of the ideas of which I have ju>t been speaking. A 

 little below the falls of the Rhine, at Schaffouse, is situated the estab- 

 lishment of Neuhausen, in which a very large number of salmon are 

 raised, purely and simply to be put into the Rhine without regard to 

 who will take the fish and profit by them. Not far from it, on the other 

 . side of the river, in the canton of Zurich, there are three establishments 

 of the same nature : one at Dachsen, opposite Neuhausen ; the second, 



