132 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



The mussel, which, on the French coasts, generally lives in great num- 

 bers on rocks left bare at low tide, is in the Korth Sea the object of an 

 important industry, which may be compared with the French oyster- 

 culture. Especially in the bay of Kiel (coast of Holstein, on the Baltic 

 Sea) near Ellerbeck and Dusternbrook, where it finds conditions very 

 favorable to its development, it is cultivated artificially and reared in 

 pares in a peculiar way. Its cultivators plant near the shore actual 

 groves of trees — such as alders, oaks, or beeches — stripj^ed of their 

 small branches and driven 10 or 12 feet into the bottom. The mussels 

 fasten on these branchless trees, develop there, and in winter are 

 gathered ijeriodically in abundance. These trees are planted in such a 

 depth of water that they are never uncovered even by the lowest tides, 

 while their exact position is determined by means of fixed marks on 

 the shore. In order to gather the mussels, they haul u]) the trees by 

 means of a rope attached to a cai^stan. This takes place from three to 

 five years after the trees have been put down. It is only during the past 

 few years that this cultivation has been carried on regularlj" in the bay 

 of Kiel, and it has resulted in products remarkable both for size and qual- 

 ity. In that region a tree properly iirepared costs about 25 cents, and 

 at collection it easily yields 55 pounds of mussels, Avorth on the spot an 

 average of $2.50. On some iwints of the Mediterranean coast the 

 same industry is practiced, using stakes joined in hurdles by means of 

 bundles of sticks or by means of stout sea-weed. [Max de is'ansouty, 

 in the Moniteur de la Fisciculture, Paris, December 5, 1885.] 



Developing the fisheries of Washington Tekritoey. — The 

 following memorial, after passing the legislature of Washington Ter- 

 ritory, was approved by the governor on January 29, 18SG : 



To the Senate and Souse of Representatives of the United States in Con- 

 gress assembled : 



Your memorialists, the legislative assembly of the Territory of Wash- 

 ington, respectfully represent that the United States Fish Commis- 

 sion, by liberal appropriations granted by Congress, have been and 

 still are doing a great and valuable work on the Atlantic coast of the 

 United States in developing the food-fishes and other marine food prod- 

 ucts of the Atlantic Ocean, and have, therefore, added largely to the 

 national wealth. 



Your memorialists further represent that the waters of Puget Sound 

 present conditions favorable to the propagation of lobsters and varie- 

 ties of oysters, and contain within the deep channels and fiords new 

 and valuable varieties of food-fishes which, although known to exist, 

 have never been properly developed, from want of funtls and requisite 

 knowledge and experience, which knowledge and experience are pos- 

 sessed by the United States Fish Commission in a greater degree than 

 by any private individuals in this Territory. 



Wherefore your memorialists respectfully pray that the sum of 



