72 



are somewhat of the same character. Although decades of 

 years, even a century, may have witnessed the continuance 

 of agencies for the diminution of fish in our waters, the 

 public mind is unsatisfied, and perhaps inclined to severe 

 criticism, if the recovery of a supply is not appreciable 

 within the first two or three years of effort. We are, how- 

 ever, clearly entitled to maintain, in view of the experi- 

 ence of foreign countries and our own, that no reasonable 

 anticipation in this respect will be disappointed, and that 

 the proper measures of legislation and of artificial projj- 

 agation will exhibit a marked result long before the end 

 of the present generation. In no instance can even the 

 beginning of a success be achieved in a shorter period than 

 four or five years, as the young, especially of the anad- 

 romous fish, such as the shad, the alewife, and the salmon 

 require that period for arriving at maturity. The parent 

 fish are first obtained, the eggs extracted and fertilized, 

 and after being hatched out, the young are finally deposited 

 in the waters to take their chances. Whatever be the ex- 

 tent of time during which the progeny remain in the sea, 

 they are more or less withdrawn from observation, and it 

 is only when the young fish has reached full maturity and 

 revisits its place of deposit for the purpose of spawning 

 that its presence is appreciated. 



It sometimes happens, too, that for one reason and 

 another the first deposit of young fish proves to be a 

 failure. They may be introduced while in a sickly condi- 

 tion, so that a difference of temx^erature causes them to 

 succumb, or else in such small numbers that in the pres- 

 ence of an unusual abundance of its enemies they may all 

 j)erish. What special agencies there may be in the ocean, 

 after they reach it, we are unable to say ; but from the 

 wider dissemination their chance of escape is greater. 



Again, we may misunderstand the period required for 

 the maturity of a certain species. While four years may 

 be considered the general average for cod and herring, five 



