BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES ITSII COMMISSION. 303 



The nearest whiteflsli grounds to Cleveland are in Dover Bay, 13 

 and 14 miles to the west. Rocky River intervenes 7 miles west of liere 

 Bat no fish of any accoant are found at or about the month of this 

 stream. Dover Bay was not found to be a wliitetish ground until with- 

 in a few years, when, in their competition for the ordinary fishes, the 

 fishermen pushed their pounds out to where the whitefish lay. The 

 catches on the first discovery often ran from 3 to 5 and 8 tons; so great 

 sometimes was the catch of a day that a market could not be found. 

 The fish then ran large; uow they run half the size and no trouble about 

 a market. The fishermen at the time of the first catch supposed the 

 whitefish had run in there for them, but the explanation is that in their 

 greed to extend their pounds beyond each other they finally reached the 

 ground where they lay. The whitefish very seldom approach the shore 

 nearer then half a mile. The fishing grounds at Dover Bay, and many 

 other places along Lake Erie shores, are owned and leased by them. 

 They are, comparatively speaking, wealthy men ; for this reason 1 do 

 not understand why Uncle Sam or the State of Ohio should stoek then- 

 waters gratuitously any more than their farms. I was out there five 

 years ago and laid out a plan so they could help themselves; they have 

 the finest facilities without the help of steam or wind- mill power, and 

 can have 20,000,000 eggs every fall if they want them. 



Cleveland, Ohio, February 20, 1883. 



51 — WHAT DANGERS THREATEN THE PBOBltTS OF THE OLD 

 PO^HJ CABF EISHEKffE^ FROM AKTIFICIAL FISH CIXTURE !* 



By voia TKESKOW-WEISSAGK. 



At the present time fish culture is a subject in which the great public 

 takes a lively interest, which is no longer confined to men of science, but 

 which is shared by many people who formerly discussed the fish ques- 

 tion only when they had before them some fine specimen offish tempt- 

 ingly prepared for the table. At present there is actually a mania for 

 fish culture and for carp-ponds. Landed proprietors ought to tremble 

 when they read how many millions of young fish of the choicest kinds 

 are annually placed in brooks, rivers, and lakes. 



It seems but natural to suppose that when the objects of fish culture 

 are fully reached, the products of the old pond culture will have to meet 

 a very serious competition. The carp is a product of agriculture ; a 

 great portion of the territory used as ponds could again be transformed 

 into fields, meadows, and forests; and just as our German farmers are 

 compelled to lower the price of their products owing to the importation 

 of American meat and grain, we, the pond culturist, of Germany, might 



* "Welche Gefahren drohen den Produkten der alien Tcichfischern durch die MnstUche 

 Fischzucht?" In " LeuUche Fischerei-Zdtvnci," Vol. VI, No. 15, Stettin, April in, 1883. 

 Translated from the German by Herman Jacobson. 



