MANUAL OF FISH-CULTUKE. 165 



Ten years ago it was said that black bass did not exist in sufficiently 

 large numbers to ever become a staple article of food, but they now 

 furnish important additions to the food supply of many thousands of 

 people. The annual sales in New York are estimated to be at least 

 50,000 pounds, with an average value of 10 cents per pound. Possibly 

 because of the abundance of whitefish and lake trout, Chicago does 

 not seem to afford as good a market for bass as other large cities. A 

 recent estimate places the sales of all the bass handled by wholesale 

 dealers of Chicago at 15,000 pounds, but these figures are probably too 

 low. The Illinois fishermen ship nearly 50 tons of black bass to the 

 markets annually, and it is a reasonable assumption that Chicago con- 

 sumes a very large part of the production of the surrounding country. 



The States in which the black-bass fishery is most important are 

 North Carolina and Ohio; in 1890, over 400,000 pounds, valued at 

 $20,500, were caught for market in North Carolina; in Ohio, in 1891, 

 nearly 300,000 pounds, worth over $22,000, were taken. Other States 

 in which there is an annual yield of over 100,000 pounds are Arkansas, 

 Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, and New York, and in about twenty other 

 States this fish is of some commercial importance. 



The annual catch of crappie for market, according to recent statis- 

 tics of the United States Fish Commission, is about 850,000 pounds, 

 having a first value of $39,000. The leading States in this fishery are 

 Arkansas, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, and Tennessee, the three first 

 named ))rodaciug more than half the yearly yield. The market value 

 of the rock bass is not large. Crappies are generally considered better 

 food-fish than the rock bass and enter much more largely into commerce. 

 As with black bass, a very large percentage of the catch of crapi)ies, rock 

 bass, and suufishes does not reach the markets. 



LIMITATIONS OF BASS-CULTURE. 



The artificial propagation of black bass, by taking and impregnating 

 the eggs, has not been, up to the present time, jiractically successful. 

 Unlike the shad and salmon, eggs can only be stripped from the female 

 with great difficulty, and it has been necessary to kill the male to obtain 

 the milt. Another obstacle is the difficulty of finding the two sexes 

 ready to yield the eggs and milt at the same time, even when they are 

 taken from over the nests apparently in the act of spawning. Inter- 

 ruption or handling seems to prevent the discharge of eggs or milt. 

 At Neosho unsuccessful efforts were made daily for several weeks to 

 spawn a female black bass in which a part, at least, of the ovaries were 

 fully developed. The fish was so near the point of si)awniiig that when 

 held head downward the eggs could be seen to roll forward toward 

 the head, and when reversed to drop in the opposite direction. 



Since a way to artificially impregnate the eggs of the bass has not 

 yet been discovered, and the handling of eggs with indoor apparatus is 

 impossible, it is fortunate that the natural impregnation of these fishes 

 reaches a percentage closely approximating that which fish-culturists 



