68 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



As illustrative of what present apparatus worked by skilled fislier- 

 men at the instance of very thickly settled regions will do, I will cite the 

 Farmington Kiver, in Connecticut. Artificial hatching was carried on 

 there for several years previous to 1879. That year it was discontinued. 

 The catch was afiected as follows : 



Catch of shad: 



1881 11,505 



1882 3, 800 



1883 1, 155 



Bearing in mind that three years are required for shad to mature, the 

 effect will be observable. In 1879 the Connecticut commissioners proph- 

 esied just what has occurred there. In 1881 hatching was resumed, and 

 a consequent increase for 1884 is predicted. 



The salmon propagation in California affords one of the most remark- 

 able of the successes thus far attained. The salmon canneries of the 

 Sacramento Eiver annually increased in number until, by 1870, the en- 

 tire run of salmon was being caught and utilized. The greatest natural 

 capacity of the river under these circumstances may be considered to 

 have been reached in 1875, when the yield to the canneries was 5,098,781 

 pounds. The first possible fruits of fish culture were in 1876, when the 

 young of 1873 may be supposed to have returned. The United States 

 hatchery was established in the latter year at Baird, Shasta County, 

 California, and a half a million young released in 1873, and again in 

 1874. In 1875 the number was increased to 850,000, in 1876 to 1,500,000, 

 and during each of the years 1877, 1878, 1879, 1880, 1881, 2,000,000 young 

 fry were placed in this river. From an annual catch of 5,000,000 pounds 

 the river has come up to the annual catch of over 9,500,000 pounds, 

 which figure has been maintained during the past four years. The fig- 

 ures were : 



Pounds, 



1880 .10, 837, 000 



1881 9, 600, 000 



1882 9,605,000 



1883 9, 586, 000 



Allowing the three years which it takes for salmon to come to matu- 

 rity and enter the rivers for spawning purposes, the increase in yield to 

 the canneries for ten years has been almost exactly proportionate to 

 the increase in the deposition of fry. Taking into consideration the 

 cost of hatching 2,000,000 of salmon annually, and the value of the in- 

 crease of 4,500,000 pounds, it will be seen that there is a very large ^er 

 ^ent. of profit in artificial fish culture when conducted under circum- 

 stances as favorable as these. 



United States Fish Commission, February 7, 1884. 



