258 AGRICULTUKAL REPOET. 



now they wholesale at $17 per liuntlred, and retail at 12 to 25 cents per 

 pound. The improvements in methods of capturing the fisli also show the 

 scarcity Avhich made these improvements necessary. Twenty years ago 

 fishing with the seine was the only method in use. Bat now, as I said 

 before, the seine cannot be used, except, perhaps, at one or two points 

 on the v/hole chain of the great lakes, and is, in fact, so far as white-fish 

 are concerned, an obsolete method of fishing. 



Asext in order came gill-nets. These carried the war into the very 

 home of the white-fish, being often set in three or four hundred feet of 

 ■water. With these nets the catch became again, at first, productive. 

 But the nets fished over every foot of ground, one boat often fishing 

 six miles ; and experience vshowed that three gangs of nets, of six miles 

 each, would use up a fishery at any one point in eight years. 



Again, the fish became so scarce that gill-netting would hardly i)ay, 

 and the trap and pound-nets were invented. The trap-nets are of the 

 same nature as the pound-nets, being only on a smaller scale. The 

 pound-nets consist of a long leader with a pound or trap at the end. 

 The fish run along this leader, or are led by it, into the trap at the end, 

 from which t])cy cannot escape. The leaders are often six miles long, 

 and furnished with a trap at each mile. They are comparatively ex- 

 pensive affairs at the outset, and are set iu water ranging from six to 

 sixty feet iu depth. The poles to which portions of the net are attached 

 are often a foot in diameter, and are forced into the bottom by the aid 

 of a pile-driver. Xo fish can pass this long barrier ; the only apparent 

 passage-way being at the trap-opening, and this opening being only a 

 means of sure capture. Any one can see that such an engine of de- 

 struction must clean out all the fish within its reach. 



Now, as even the old seine lessened the annual yield, and the gill-net 

 very much decreased it, how many breeders does any one suppose wiU be 

 left after the pound-net shall have finished its work ; Even the pound- 

 net fishing is nearly exhausted in Lakes Ontario, Huron, Erie, and Michi- 

 gan, and in Lake Superior alone is this juethod extensively and profit- 

 ably used. It is true that notwithstanding the decrease of the fish, the 

 fishermen make nearly as much as formerly, because they charge an 

 increased price. But it will take no wise prophet to foretell the failure 

 of their business. They may raise the price until the last fish is drawn, 

 and then 



Now, if it is true that the decrease of the fish has not decreased the 

 profits of the fishermen, neither will the increase of the fish decrease 

 their profits, as they will obtain more fish with less outlay of capital and 

 less labor. Most of the tishei-men already see this, and are not only 

 willing but anxious to have the supply increased and the continuation of 

 their business made sure. 



If the fishermen are anxious to make the change, how much more 

 anxious should l3e the general public. It can be demonstrated that a 

 comparatively small outlay will very much decrease the price of the 

 white-fish. In other words, by an indirect expenditure of less than one 

 cent, we will be able to get for 25 cents the same weight of fish for which 

 we are now paying 61.7o. This may sound like "big talk," but it is 

 not consideied an extravagant estijnato by those acquainted with the 

 facts. 



There are two methods by wliich the lakes may be restocked to their 

 former capacity. 



The first is by putting an end at once to all fishing, and trusting to 

 the mitural increase of tlie fish. Well, this process would take a thou- 

 sand years or more, and the reason is this: The salmon-trout inhabit 



