93 



The solution of this problem of how to increase re- 

 sults, would also simplify some other complications, 

 for with a fair ratio of increase in the number of sur- 

 vivors, their capture as fast as they matured, whether 

 on spawning grounds or off, could not be regarded as 

 economic abuse, so long as artificial pi'oditction luas 

 continued. It would be no violation of economic law 

 to annually harvest the matured crop in its entirety, 

 and wholly without regard to natural reproduction, 

 like any other cultivated crop, provided there might 

 be a fair return from the abundant sowing made possi- 

 ble through the saving economy of artificial treatment 

 of the seed. When these returns shall be able to force 

 the production of mature white fish to its maxi- 

 mum without aid from the natural hatch, the only clos- 

 ed season indicated would be that during which the 

 adults are associated with the young and immature 

 fish, or in other words, before, not after, the natural 

 sorting and grouping and massing of the parent fish 

 had begun for the purpose of reproduction ; for, unlike 

 the pike perch and many other spring spawners, white 

 fish separate entirely from their own young during the 

 spawning season. This conclusion must not be consid- 

 ered as applying to such kinds of fish as may not be 

 propagated artifically and which guard their spawning 

 beds, an important function, during the continuance of 

 which they should not be molested. 



The presumption is strong that a better knowledge 

 of the " subsequent proceedings," a more thorough un- 

 derstanding of what constitutes appropriate environ- 

 ment, would enable us to plant more intelligently and 

 thereby greatly increase the abundance of the harvest. 

 A knowledge of early food conditions, its presence 

 and abundance, as determined by previous examina- 

 tions, would indicate where to plant and in what num- 

 bers the young fish should be set free in any given lo- 



