183 
been its actual character, there were more glandered horses than in ordinary years. 
It is therefore necessary to guard against tht disease by slaughtering the animals as 
promptly as possible in order to avoid contayion. 
Number of horses attacked. 
amen me) TAIN DO eras ee errr aan f.._ 2 ea eee M oe eevee acide es ee PE IE Np 612 
Number of horses attacked so seriously as to be sent to the infirmary..-......._.. 165 
SUPARNENES GUC COU, 3 ara ie ee aii a! mm ml ate em te a min ms wie, eld 144 
PURINES | OL GG. 8 oe on ar aE eS, arta joie, ah ape Cheer rian: a a a oe Ena goo tore bet Ya oc 21 
Number lightly attacked and put upon a proper regimen, in stable, about...-..-. 100 
Total attacked ed Bec ee Statcrte ho cpe oy) Sh Ate ae A gins ae Bic od och Eh ore bye Sok ach 265 
In many other localities the proportion was abont the same. 
Duration.—The epizoovic began about the Ist of June, was at its height at the begin- 
ning of July, and disappeared at the end of September. 
The duration for each horse was variable; ten or twelve days in mild cases, and 
thirty or forty daysin serious cases. Where the issue was fatal, death usually occurred 
from the seventh to the ninth day, sometimes much sooner in fulminant cases, and 
later in cases of complications. 
Such, Mr. Ambassador, is the relation that, in the interest of your fellow-citizens, 
I believe it to be my duty to request you to make kuown to your Government. If you 
should desire further information I should be happy to commuuicate it to you. 
I should be pleased if, in return, you would procure an account of the distemper 
from some American professional veterinary-surgeon, and transmit to me a copy. 
HK. DECROIX, 
Veterinary-Surgeon in Chief to the Republican Guard, 
Barracks of the Celestins, Paris. 
. FISH-CULTURE. 
The following communication has been received by the Commissioner 
from Hon. Robert B. Roosevelt, of New York City: 
Sir: Now that the artificial production and cultivation of fish has taken an estab- 
lished position among the industries of the world, and especially of this nation, a 
thorough investigation of its fundamental principles is a matter of public interest. 
That it has passed from the realm of theory and empiricism into that of permanence 
and success is well proved by the existence of namerous fish-breediug establishments 
carried on for profit, aud the creation of fishery-commissions by the legislatures of most 
of the older States of the Union. It is true that the principal varieties of the inhabit- 
ants of the aqueous element cannot be “cabined, cribbed, contined,” cannot become 
the subjeets of special property, and must be allowed to roam from one spot to another, 
passing under different legal, without actually coming within any permanent, jurisdic- 
tions. But at least one sort of fish has become a merchantable commodity, and is bred, 
raised, and sold precisely as sheep or cows or horses are bred, raised, and sold, and has a 
fixed marketable value, with a demand geuerally exceeding the supply. There are not 
less than fifty professional breeders of trout in this couutry, all making a living mainly 
or wholly from this employment, and several receiving large iucomes. They keep mature 
fish in restricted and controllable limits, supervise their gestation and parturition, 
attend to the proper impregnation of the eggs by natural or artificial means, protect 
and gnard the ova while batching, assist the young when first born, and when enenm- 
bered with the umbilical sac they are unable to take care of themseives, and finally 
feed them when the time arrives for them to receive nourishment, until they can be 
distributed in the localities where they are needed. This is no temporary or fanciful 
occupation, but a regular business. So with the public attempts to increase the suppiy 
of those sorts of fish which inhabit large rivers and lakes, and may be taken by any 
member of the community, or a number of different proprietors of fishing-rights, or 
which are anadromous and yearly descend into the ovean, the common property of the 
world. These efforts, under the legislative encouragement of the several States, have 
been uniformly successful to a degree fully commensurate with the time and money 
expended, and have entirely established the proposition that fish can be cultivated as 
easily and profitably—it might seem hyperbolus to say more so—as grain, fruits, or 
vegetables. As an instance of this, reference can be made to the Connecticut, in which 
