BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 375 



fish-culture has Dever been one of the prominent British industries, and 

 the Government has never appropriated a single penny for this cause ; 

 for experience had shown that strict and continued protection of all 

 fish belonging to the salmon kind, at least during their spawning sea- 

 son, is the most efficient and only safe means of preserving and increas- 

 ing the stock of fish in the rivers. Among those persons who have 

 recently evinced great interest in fish-culture, the Duke of Sutherland 

 deserves special mention. He is said to possess several model establish- 

 ments for hatching salmon, in which as many as 800,000 eggs can be 

 hatched per annum. Since 1S73 he places every year more than 500,000 

 young fish from his establishments in various waters, among the rest 

 in Loch Brora, on whose shore his largest hatchery is located. Although 

 the number offish annually caught in this lake has not increased per- 

 ceptibly, it has been found that the breed has been improved, which is 

 supposed to be owing to the employment of select breeders from the Tay, 

 the Tweed, and the Rhine. Some English pisciculturists principally aim 

 at producing a superior quality of fish by crossing the breeds, as is done 

 with domestic animals, and, according to their own statements, they have 

 been successful. There are also in Great Britain large trout-hatcheries 

 carried on on business principles. The principal ones are those of Sir 

 James Maitland, in Howietown, near Stirling, where, besides large quan- 

 tities of shell fish, the flesh of at least three horses is used per week for 

 feeding the trout. Mention should also be made of Mr. Joseph I. Armiu- 

 stead's Troutdale fishery, near Keswick, in Cumberland, and Mr. Charles 

 Capel's Cray fishery, near Foots-Cray, in Kent. 



NORWAY. 



In Norway, where the fisheries form one of the principal industries 

 of the country, a good deal of attention was given to artificial fish-cult- 

 ure thirty years ago, both by the Government and the public, in con- 

 sequence of the impetus given by France. According to official data, 

 there have been started in Norway since 1856 no less than about 240 

 private piscicultural establishments, one-third of which were devoted 

 to the hatching of salmon eggs, and two-thirds to the hatching of trout 

 and Coregonus. But a very large number of these establishments, after 

 having been in existence for a shorter or longer period without being able 

 to show any result whatever, were gradually closed ; so that during the 

 winter 1878-1879 only 38 were still in operation — ]6 for salmon, and the 

 rest for other fish. The majority of these 38 establishments were com- 

 paratively small, and only 5 of them produced about 100,000 young fish 

 apiece. Although for a number of years 1 to 1J million young salmon 

 had been produced annually, it appears from the statement of Mr. A. 

 Landmark, inspector of fisheries, in his financial estimate for last year, 

 that there are no absolutely certain proofs that the salmon-culture has so 

 far proved any benefit whatever to Norway. In his observations accom- 



