i: 



THE INFLUENCE OF RAILROADS ON 

 FISH CULTURE. 



READ BEFORE THE AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY, V.V 

 FRED MATHER, COLD SPRIXc; HARBOR, N. V. 



The continual extension of railroads has been an 

 important factor in stimulating- fish culture, and has had 

 a most important bearing on it that is worth consider- 

 ing. When 1 am asked why shad are not cheaper, 

 now that so many millions of eggs are taken from fish 

 caught for market and are hatched and added to the 

 natural product of the rivers, I answer, "railroads." 

 If the question refers to the price of oysters, lobsters 

 or the fresh-water fishes of the Great Lakes, the 

 same answer is returned. 



Forty years ago the Hudson River furnished all the 

 shad for New York City and for a district included in 

 two strips thirty miles back from each bank of the 

 river as far north as Troy. Farmers drove in to the 

 fishing grounds and bought shad to salt for winter use 

 and in the height of the season they could be boucrht 

 at the nets for from three to five dollars per hundred. 

 In Albany they retailed at two for a quarter of a dollar, 

 and some times for less. Lobsters were retailed at 

 about five cents per pound and were seldom seen under 

 four pounds weight, oftener six to eight pounds. 

 Before the building of the Boston and Albany Railroad 

 teams came through to Albany from Boston, when 

 sleighing was good, loaded with boxes of fresh codfish, 



