PiSCICCLTUKE WITU ReFKRENCE TO FaRMING. 415 



The net profits of trout propagation at the establishment 

 of Mr. Green, in Livin^j;ston county, New York, were one 

 thousand dollars in 18C6, five thousand dollars in 1867, 

 and ten thousand dollars in 18G8. The property where his 

 ponds are located was purchased a few years ago for two 

 thousand dollars, and, when his operations had fairly com- 

 raenced, he accepted a proposition for six thousand dollars 

 for a half interest in the works. 



Stephen C. Ainsworth, the pioneer pisciculturist of this 

 -country, says that with a good spring of one-half inch of 

 water, one may raise all the trout he needs for his table 

 with trifling expense. Dr. J. N. Slack, of New Jersey, 

 regards pisciculture as no longer an experiment, but as a 

 pursuit quite as certain as agriculture, and, at present, much 

 more profitable. So I might quote page after page, not of 

 opinion and theory only, but of practical result. But I am 

 already, I fear, trespassing upon time which has been allotted 

 to others. The earth, long cultivated, loses its power to 

 produce crops ; but the inexhaustible supply of water, which 

 a wise Creator ]n\s given us, like the air wc breathe, never 

 loses its vitality. Rightly cultivated, it increases in its pow- 

 er to sustain animal life. Here is a field wide enough for 

 intelligent experiment and observation, as well as scientific 

 investigation, not yet half explored. It off*ers the fiirmcrs 

 ■of Vermont splendid opportunities. I am well enough 

 aware that I have not begun to do this subject the justice it 

 <iemands. If, however, I have succeeded in awakening any 

 interest in an art which, as allied to agriculture, has an 

 importance just beginning to be appreciated, I am amply 

 repaid. 



