78 FISH CULTURE—MELLISH. 
able attention has also been given to the subject in the United 
States, but the Americans are free to confess that the facilities 
in Canada for salmon culture are much greater than in their 
own country. In several of the Eastern States the culture of 
the common brook trout has been carried on successfully. 
Artificial fish culture was first introduced into Canada by Mr. 
Samuel Wilmot, a native of the Province of Ontario. Having been 
brought up in the immediate vicinity of a once famous salmon 
producing river, and having observed the gradual decline in the 
numbers of this fish entering the stream, Mr. Wilmot conceived 
the idea of endeavoring to re-stock it by artificial means, some- 
what after the manner practised at Stormontfield in Scotland, 
and at Huningen in Germany. His first attempt was made in 
the year 1866. Having then no practical knowledge of the de- 
tails of the work, his operations were necessarily limited and 
rather unsuccessful. The art of manipulating the fish and of im- 
pregnating the ova obtained from them required close study and 
experience. Mr, Wilmot, being exceedingly ingenious and a man 
of great determination, was nothing daunted by failare, but con- 
tinued year after year to renew his attempts to overcome the 
difficulties before him, and was highly gratified to find in the 
year 1870 that he had mastered the art and was able to take the 
ova from the mother fish without injuring her, and after fecund- 
ing them by the milt or impregnating fluid obtained from the 
male fish, was able to keep them safely during their long period 
of incubation, and finally to deposit them safely in the river. 
Having accomplished this much entirely at his own expense, and 
being convinced of the practical utility of the work in re-stock- 
ing the almost depleted rivers of his native Province, he brought 
the matter before the Dominion Government and asked for a 
small appropriation which would enable him to perfect and ex- 
tend his scheme. Up to this time Mr. Wilmot’s operations and 
experiments had been carried on in his own cellar, through 
which a small stream of water passed, but as no extensive re- 
sults could be secured in so limited a space, he was anxious to 
obtain more suitable accomodation. Mr. Wilmot then succeeded 
in obtaining a sufficient sum from the Dominion Government 
