276 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



alone the catch was brought up from 668,000 pounds to 1,600,000 within 

 a period of five years. To the skeptic who intimates that possibly this, 

 increase might have occurred without the intervention of the fish cul- 

 turist he is pointed to the fact that the rivers of the Pacific coast which 

 contained no shad ( nor any within three thousand miles ) were success- 

 fully stocked with those fish by transferiing the young from the East 

 coast. They are now so plentiful that it is not uncommon to see them 

 on the slabs of the San Francisco market at three cents per pound. 



Much of the prejudice existiog against the carp is unwarranted 

 and based upon a want of knowledge how to rear and prepare it for 

 food. I have it upon the best authority that the carp is so rapidly 

 gaining in favor in the East that but three varieties of fresh water fish 

 bring a higher price in the New York markets. Within the last week 

 I am informed by the statistician of the U. S. Fish Commission that 

 the wholesale fish dealers in the United States report an annual sale of 

 German carp amounting to $100,000. It is exceedingly doubtful if we 

 receive reports of one-half the sales. The total cost of introduction,, 

 propagation and distribution of this valuable addition to our food sup- 

 ply was $218,000. 



Examples might be multiplied almost indefinitely of the beneficial 

 results which have followed fish cultural work in Great Britain, France^ 

 Germany, and away io the Antipodes, in New Zealand and Tasmania^ 

 magnificent returns have crowned the efforts. 



So far, I have been talking to you from the standpoint of the econ- 

 omist: that is to say, of the possibilities of fish culture in increasing 

 the quantity of a necessary and desirable food product. It may readily 

 occur to some of you to question " how can these things having refer- 

 ence in the main to our tidal waters and ocean boundaries be appli- 

 cable to us?" Sufficient answer to such a question might be that you 

 are citizens of the United States and what interests one section must 

 interest all ; but it may be of more satisfaction if I touch liriefly on 

 what the Federal Commission is trying to do for the inland waters of 

 the Southwest. 



The Neosho station of the United States Fish Commission is the 

 first of a class of hatcheries designed to meet the peculiar wants of 

 this large section. A similar though larger and much more extensive 

 station is now under course of construction in Texas.. It is the inten- 

 tion that these two hatcheries, until Congress instructs the establish- 

 ment of others, shall have for their peculiar functions the propagation 

 of the basses, their allies, and such other fishes as are found best 

 adapted to the waters of the Southwest. It is true that for several 

 years the demands of the people have to some extent diverted the 



