ARTIFICIAL FISH-CULTURE. 29 



as in properly construcfcod hatching houses, where the water mi<,'lit bo maintained 

 at a suitable temperature, and whatever is known to bo injurious to the eggs 

 excluded as far as possible. 



The discovery of how to collect and artilicially fecundate fish ova has been 

 claimed by many different persons in various ages and in widely separated 

 countries.* During this century the French Government in Europe f first turned 

 fish-culture into practical channels. Commencing experiments in 1842, their 

 establishment at Huninguo came into existence near the Rhino and Rhone 

 Canal in 1848, and from it the rivers and lakes of France were re-stockod. In 

 Great Britain, where the importance of Jacobi's re-discovery of how to propagate 

 Salmonidfo was recognized during the last century by tljo British Government, 

 who granted him a pension : and at the present time maintain five Inspectors of 

 Fishei-ies, their assistants and clerks, but the only connection they have with 

 fish -culture is the keeping up of a few tanks in the South Kensington Museum. 

 Although Mr. T. Shaw first succeeded in 183G in artificially hatching salmon eggs 

 in ScotTand, it was not until December 20th, 1852, that this process was first tried 

 on a large scale in Ireland by the Messrs. Ash worths : by the proprietors of the 

 Tay, in Scotland, in 1853, and by Mr. Fisher, of Richmond, Yorkshire, associated 

 with other gentlemen of that town and county who in the same year commenced 

 breeding salmon artificially in the River Swale. 



For the purpose of obtaining the eggs of Salmonidce, in order to undertake arti- 

 ficial fish-culture, three sources, irrespective of purchase, are available : direct from 

 the fish living in a wild state, or else from such as are kept in breeding-ponds, or 

 robbing the nests or redds in rivers or streams. Anyone who has been practically 

 concerned in capturing fish in a wild condition for spawning purposes knows the 

 vast amount of trouble, exposure, disappointment, and expense which this entails, 

 and in trout, at least, the most practical plan has been found to keep breeders in 

 suitable ponds,| well separated one from another,§ while a very great advantage 



culture, 1865, and the Practical Management of Fisheries, 1883, by Francis Francis; Trout-culture, 

 by C. Capel, 1877 ; Fish-culture, by Francis Day, Great International Fisheries Exhibition, series 



1883. , , . , ,. , 



* In the fifteenth century a monk, Dom Pinchon, bred fish from eggs placed ni boxes, lined 

 at the bottom with sand and gravel, and having their front and hind ends protected by basket 

 work, and through which a stream of water flowed. Stephen Ludwig Jacobi, a landed proprietor, 

 residing at Hohenhausen, a small town in Westphalia, as early as 1733, or thereabouts, made many 

 experiments respecting the artificial breeding of trout, adopting much the same methods as 

 Dom Pinchon, except that the ends and upper covering of his troughs were constituted of fine 

 gratings, and these were deposited in streams, at suitable depths. His account of the results of 

 his 30 years' experiments appeared in 17G3 in the Hanover Magazine, and a translation exists in 

 Yarrell's British Fishes, second edition, vol. ii, page 87. Jacobi's experiments were deemed so 

 important that the British Government granted him a pension. See also a Treatise on the 

 Propagation of Salmon and other Fish, by E. and T, Ashworth, 1853, pages iii and iv, for a full 

 history of this paper. , ht- • x 



t The artificial breeding of salmon was placed by the French Government under the Minister 

 of the Interior, of Agriculture, and Commerce, and directly under M. Coste, and the two engineers 

 of the Rhone and Ehine Canal, MM. Berthot and Detzen. The results of their labours, 

 together with a history of the experiments of Shaw, Andrew Young, Boccius, and Milne-Edwards 

 were detailed in a work by M. Coste, entitled Instructions Pratiques sur la Pisciculture, suivies 

 de Memoires sur le meme sujet, 1853. ci . ,. 



I The private fish-cultural establishments in Scotland are at Howietoun, near Stirhng, 

 belonging to Sir James Maitland, Bart.,F.L.s. andF.z.s., commenced in 1873, and by far the most 

 complete in existence, especially for trout, and upwards of ten million ova are annually incubated 

 there. Every 24 hours about one million gallons of water flow through the ponds, which arc 32 

 in number and employed either for breeding fish or raising the young, or experimental work. 

 The Solway Fishery, established by Mr. Armistead in 1881, and capable of hatching one million 

 ova, has 19 ponds : Stormontjield Ponds, erected in 1853 near Perth, now nearly superseded by tlie 

 Dupplin Hatchery, instituted in 1882, where young are hatched for the Tay : also smaller ones at 

 Loch Leven, Liniithqow Palace, at Culzean in Ap-shire, Benmorc, at Kilmun, Argyllshire, Lochbuie, 

 Isle of Mull, Aberdeen, for the rivers Dee and Don, 3Ioriston, in Invernesshire, Caithness on the 

 Forss, and a few others. While in England there are Mr. Andrew's at Guildford, Mr. Capel's at 

 Craifs Foot, and the National Fish Culture Association at Delafore Park, and some few others, 

 mostly of a private character. 



§ Ponds should not be too large, while excavated ones are safer than such as are formed by dams, 

 these latter being more liable to give way. A fall from one to another is desirable, but they have to 

 be constructed in accordance with, if intended for breeders, fry, or fish for the market, also with the 



