236 PROPAGATION OF FISH. 
Agriculture to examine into tlie subject. His report was 
so favorable and so fully confirmed by subsequent inves- 
tigation, that the government took the matter under 
their own care, established extensive works, stocked to 
repletion many of the rivers, and now supply all France 
with impregnated egg or young fry of the best varieties. 
In England, that land of sportsmen, the discovery was 
hailed with enthusiasm, and put in immediate and suc- 
cessful ojDeration. Millions of trout and salmon were 
hatched, and the results were truly wonderful. Kivers 
that had ceased to afford a single fish were made to teem 
with them, and large revenues were obtained from the 
fishing rights. Over a million fish were introduced into 
the waters of one company, and surprising discoveries 
were made as to their growth. In Scotland, a large 
number of young salmon or smolts, being one year old 
and averaging an ounce weight, were marked by cutting 
off* the adipose dorsal fin of every hundredth fish, and 
allowed to descend to the sea. They returned in two or 
three months, the smallest weighing three pounds and a 
half, and the largest nine pounds and a half. Suppose 
that one hundred thousand out of the three hundred 
thousand hatched returned, having gained an average 
weight of ^YG pounds, and worth in JSTew York market 
forty cents a pound, will some one that is good at figures 
please calculate the hook and net profits. 
Yery confused ideas of the growth of fish are popularly 
entertained ; numerous contradictory statements are to 
be found in the books and to be heard from sportsmen, 
but the truth is generally missed ; in fact, everything 
depends upon the food. A strong fish grows the fastest ; 
