408 State Board of Agkiculture, &c. 



lislies, at least tlie varieties that are not purely a fresh water 

 fish are migratory in their habits. Now seven-tenths of the 

 farmers of Vermont can raise their own fish, and at compar- 

 atively small expense. A tenth part of the money it costs 

 to start a flock of sheep, and a twentieth part of the time 

 and trouble it takes to care for them, spent upon the com- 

 mon Trout would, I apprehend, yield a much greater profit. 

 A moiety of the money and time and talk some farmers 

 spend with their horses, expended upon fish, w^ould pay thetn 

 much better and in more ways than one. 



Seth Green, one of the largest and most successful pisci- 

 culturists in the country, says : " All tlie waters of this 

 country can be filled with fish adapted to them. Every acre 

 of water is w^ortli two acres of land if properly farmed. 

 Most persons suppose that it can be done at trifling expense. 

 It can be done clieap, but it cannot be done for nothing. 

 Spend one-thou§andth part of the sum spent in tilling the 

 land in cultivating the water, and flsh may be sold in our 

 markets at two cents per pound.''' 



This woidd seem to indicate that Mr. Green believes 

 that fish can be raised in pidvate fresh water ponds at so 

 small an expense as to compete with salt water fisheries. 

 The one-thousandth part of the sum which some farmers 

 expend upon some acres of land would be rather a small 

 capital with which to commence the business of fish cul- 

 ture. Mr. Green as a pisciculturist is, with all his valuable 

 experience, an enthusiast, and it would not be strange if, 

 with all his enthusiasm, he is sometimes extravagant. 



However true his remarks may be, as applied to some 

 sections, it is evidently out of tlie question here with our 



