452 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



The way in wliicli your Governmeut has provided lor the p;jopIe, 

 and the way your fish-breediug estabhshinents are managed, may well 

 excite the admiration of other countries. We have in Tasraauia a 

 salmon commission which has been establislied for twenty-one years, 

 and yet nothing is more scarce than fish, although Tasmania abounds 

 with lakes, lagoons, and rivers. 



Protection of salmon in Oregon. — Mr. B. F. Doweil, writing 

 from Jacksonville, Oreg., on October 14, 1885, said : 



Although for many years Oregon has passed laws for the protection 

 of salmon, «&;c., I have known of only two prosecutions under these 

 laws. In 1872 the legislature prohibited the erection of dams across 

 any stream in which salmon or the migrating tish run, without erecting 

 a ladder or fishway, under penalty of from 8^0 to $500 ; and the act 

 gave justices of the peace jurisdiction over the oftense. Under this act 

 a man was indicted at The Dalles, found guilty, and fined $50 and costs. 

 Eecently an action was begun in Jacksonville in a justice's court against 

 E. S. and J. 0. Trumble for erecting a dam across Eoguo Kiver, which 

 it was alleged obstructed the ascent of salmon. On trial by jury they 

 were found guilty and fined $75 and costs. An appeal was taken and 

 the case next tried in the circuit court. Here the contest was i)rinci- 

 pally over the words " dam or way " in the statute, and whether the 

 dam was high enough to obstruct the passage of the fish. The court 

 charged the jury that if there was a sufficient open way for the fish to 

 pass easily it would be sufficient, whether there was or was not a suffi- 

 cient open way for the fish to pass up the river. The evidence was 

 conflicting about an open way, and the jury found the defendants not 

 guilty. 



A PREPARATION FR03I THE GIANT KELP OF THE rACIFIC. — lu a 



letter from Port Townsend, Wash., October 10, 1885, Mr. James G. 

 Swan speaks of an extract or preparation called algin, which he thinks 

 can be made profitably from the giant kelp of the Pacific. He then 

 cites an article by Mr. Stanford which says : '' The evaporation is efiected 

 in a similar manner to that of gelatine, in thin layers on trays or slate 

 shelves. Thus prepared the sodium alginate presents the form of thin, 

 almost colorless sheets, resembling gelatine, but very flexible. It has 

 several remarkable properties which distinguish it from all other known 

 substances. It bleaches easily, and under pressure becomes very hard. 

 It also makes good paper, tough and transparent, but with no fiber." 

 It is stated also that in some districts of Japan this kelp paper is used 

 as a cheap substitute for window-glass to light the dwellings of the 

 l)Oorer classes. 



Fish killed by suffocation. — Hon. John M. Pearson, writing 

 Irom Godfrey, 111., on November 2, 1885, said that in his artificial pond, 

 fed entirely by surface water, he was successful in raising sunfish, crap- 

 pies, and black bass, the crapijie being regarded as the best pan -fish. 



