24 



whales, fui' seals, sharks, etc., as well as for the more ordinarv fish^ 

 the ability to catch more fish locally and to utilise them as wholesome 

 preserved food for a vnst number of people, the development of an 

 industry which gives good employment to many and profits to the 

 nation, are directly traceable to the foundation of this station only a 

 dozen years ago. But the station was founded with knowledge and 

 foresight; the exact objects to besought were defined, the experi- 

 menters were and are enthusiastic and not only enthusiastic but 

 experts, and the men of the locality were, like other Japanese, ready 

 to be taught and ready or, rather, anxious to take advantage of 

 opportunity. 



42. The station, moreover, has a branch at Atsuta near Nagoya 

 where pisciculture is carried on ; it has a good staff, the Principal 

 being, of course, a graduate from the Imperial Fisheries Institute ; 

 it consists of the usual office and other buildings and about 9 acres 

 of land, nearly the whole of which is occupied by 5 large and 17 

 smaller ponds of somewhat brackish water; the small ponds are for 

 breeding and the large ones for growing for market carp, mullet, eel, 

 and snapping turtle. The methods will be detailed s.v. "pisci- 

 culture " but the objects and results are as follows : the objects are 

 to popularise by experiment, example, and advice the best methods of 

 breeding, to experiment on and introduce new and more profitable 

 classes or species such as the Chinese eel, foreign varieties of carp, etc.,. 

 and to supply young carp for growth in the paddy fields, a peculiar 

 Japanese method of fish culture. The large ponds contain the fish grown 

 for market ; these are fed on all sorts of cheap nutriment, and as this 

 is a silk growing locality, the dead pupae from the cocoons are largely 

 used either whole or crushed with other food stuff such as meal. 



43. Last year the station sold 100,000 * carp, 25,000 mullet, and 

 thousands of pounds, weight of eels, and distributed, gratis, an 

 immense number of carp fry ; these last are spawned in spring in the 

 small ponds, as vvill be described .s.v. '' pisciculture ^', and early in 

 June, when about 1" or 2" long, are sent out in pails slung on kavadis 

 and containing several thousand each ; if the water be changed they 

 will travel up to 40 miles, sufficient aeration being given by the motion of 

 the carrier. At their destination they are turned into the paddy fields 

 where there is abundant animal and vegetable nutriment in the shape of 

 copepods, larvae, small Crustacea, etc. ; by harvest time in October, 

 they vvill be 8" or 9" in length and fit for market ; should the field irriga- 

 tion fail during that jieriod. a pit is dug in the field and the fish collected 

 there. Considerable profit is obtained in this way by the farmer. 



* These were the figures given to nie in conversation hut, there seems to he Bonie 

 error, the quantity being hardly credible, or reconcilable with the publibhed official statis- 

 tics of carp production in i\ichi and other districts. iSee " pisciculture " infra. 



