AGRICULTURAL ZOOLOGY. 347 



beds, or on, or within half a mile of, above or below, any fish-weir, dam, or run-way, over 

 which the fish may pass at any season of the year. 



4. The prohibition, under the same penalties, of the erections of any stake-weirs or per- 

 manent nets, extending from either shore, above one-third of the width of the stream, or 

 intercepting the main channel or current of the river. 



5. The absence of any clause, providing that persons shall not be held answerable in 

 penalties for violating the said prohibitions — on their own ground. Such exception having 

 been found invariably and totally to prevent and nullify the operation of all protective laws, 

 and to preclude all benefit arising from them. 



6th, and lastly, a statute compelling all mill-owners, proprietors of dams, weirs, or the 

 like, to erect, within a certain number of months after the passage of the act, to every fall, 

 weir, or mill-dam, exceeding four feet in height, a slope or apron, extending on the lower 

 side of the fall, from a point one foot below the head of water maintained, to the bottom of 

 the river at an angle of not exceeding forty-five degrees to the horizon ; such aprons not to 

 be less than twenty feet in width, or the whole width of the stream in the smallest brooks ; 

 and in rivers of two hundred yards and upwards in width, not less than one hundred yards in 

 width, and as nearly as possible in the main current or tide-way of the stream or river. 



These are the conditions — easy conditions, it seems to us — on which it is offered to make 

 an attempt, which, there is little doubt, would prove fully successful. That they are strictly 

 practicable, as far as constitutionality is concerned, cannot be doubted. They trespass on 

 the rights of no man ; would entail but a small expense on a small class of property holders, 

 which no man of ordinary patriotic feelings could hesitate a moment to incur for the carrying 

 out of the great aims in view. 



Further than this, we believe the protection asked would be adequate to the carrying out 

 of the plan, and that no degree of protection, short of that which is asked, would be 

 adequate. 



That the object aimed at is worthy of a trial, is not to be denied or doubted ; and that, if 

 attainable, it would be productive of great national benefit, is as certain — it being no less 

 than the creation, or, at least, the regeneration, of a new, or quasi new, branch of national 

 industry, which would necessarily employ and produce a large capital, which would give 

 work and wages to several thousands, probably, of hands, and, what is of yet more conse- 

 quence, would furnish, in these times of high prices, scarcity of provisions, and increasing 

 demand for food, a cheap and abundant article of nutriment for the masses. 



Again, the necessary outlay for restoring these waters is rated at so mere a trifle, that it 

 is unworthy of a thought — the estimated expense of stocking the rivers named, in the first 

 instance, not exceeding a thousand or two of dollars, added to the individual outlay of a few 

 mill-owners, in remodelling their dams in a manner which would permit of the ingress and 

 regress of the fish, without, in any wise, affecting the height of the head of water or the 

 supply maintained by the present system. 



Artificial Propagation of Fish in Ohio. 



At the Ohio State Agricultural Fair for 1854, specimens of trout, artificially propagated, 

 were exhibited by Messrs. Ackley and Garlick, and attracted much attention as the successful 

 result of one of the earliest efforts made in this direction in the United States. In the Ohio 

 Farmer, for September, 1855, we find the following account of Messrs. Ackley and Garlick's 

 proceedings, furnished by the last-named gentleman. Mr. G. says : — 



Early in the spring of last year, Prof. H. A. Ackley and myself determined to make the 

 experiment of artificially breeding fishes. After some deliberation, we concluded to select 

 the speckled trout (Salmo fontinalis) for our first experiment. Accordingly, in the month of 

 August last, I started for the Sault Ste. Marie, with the purpose of obtaining the parent 

 fishes, while Prof. Ackley was preparing a suitable place for their reception, by building a 

 dam across a very fine large spring of water on his farm, some two miles from Cleveland. 

 There was no difficulty in capturing as many as I desired ; but it was quite another kind of 

 sport to transport them alive a distance of near six hundred miles. After various vexations, 



