236 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



broadcast over the sod and rock alike, " by the wayside and on 

 the stony places," and leave it to come up with the weeds and 

 tares without manure or attention, he would hardly expect a good 

 crop, and would find much trouble in living on the proceeds, no 

 matter how much land he owned, and yet this is precisely what 

 we do with the fish. To judge by what has b3en effected it may 

 be confidently asserted that fish culture .is yet to add a very large 

 proportion to the wealth and resources of the world, above all to 

 the riches of this continent. At present our vast lakes are left 

 untilled, some of the smaller ponds and many streams in the older 

 and more thickly settled States have absolutely no edible fish in 

 them, and some no fish whatever ; the hook, the net, the spear 

 and the "jack" — -night spearing — has annihilated the last one. 

 They teemed once with their natural inhabitants. Why cannot 

 they be made to do so again ? The evidence of our own and other 

 countries clearly prove they can. 



The decrease of fish is attributed to over-fishing and unseason- 

 able fishing, which is true ; but these are the ordinary concomi- 

 tants of advancing civilization and increasing population, and only 

 admonish us that man must use his»mind to increase the supply. 

 It has been alleged that the food had diminished even in the sea; 

 and here again I cannot do better than quote from the report 

 before alluded to of the New York commissioners : 



" A familiar explanation of the decrease of fish, given by all 

 those who are interested in keeping up the present unwise mode 

 of destruction of the fisheries, is that their food has disappeared. 

 It was essential in the first place to ascertain whether this was 

 true; and to determine the question dr< were drawn over 



the mussel beds, and the water in various parts of the bays and 

 oceau was examined, to see if it contained much animal life. 

 These examinations demonstrated that instead of any decrease in 

 the supply of food, it must absolutely have increased from reduced 

 consumption and the destruction (if its natural enemies ; the bi- 

 valves, crustaceans, and all manner of similar creatures were 

 abundant on the bottom, while the water was literally alive with 

 animal matter, with polyps, infusoria, jelly-fish, &c. A bucketful 

 taken from it anywhere was simply full of such animalculaj. Here 

 was one point settled conclusively; true that the menhaden had 

 been used for their oil to an extent that had made them scarce, 

 and their disappearance had injured the more ravenous varieties 

 offish, but the bottom-feeders and the slow swimmers had around 

 them more food than they could possibly consume." 



The truth is the food is too abundant, for these creatures often 

 prey on one another, the smaller varieties devouring the eggs and 



