54 



We do know that liver fed tront are of little account 

 for market fish ; 3'ou must give the natural food of the 

 fish to them, in order to get a marketable fish and an 

 edible fish. There is no question that in Germany, in 

 Scotland, and in England this subject has received 

 great attention, and that fish culture has been entered 

 upon by private individuals in these countries, I 

 believe, with profit. 



It seems to me that with the large amount of means 

 at the disposal of the United States Commission the}^ 

 ought to take the lead in investigations looking to the 

 rearing of trout for the market. There is hardly- a da}' 

 passes in the experience of any man connected with 

 the industry, I fanc}', that he is not inquired of 

 with regard to this subject of raising fish for the 

 market. I believe that Ivlr. Mather's experiments go 

 to show what he states they do, and that such progress 

 is being made in this line as necessitates just such 

 experiments as ]\Ir. Mather has made. It is onl}- a 

 step, but I am satisfied in ni}- own mind that within 

 the next decade or two, if this, matter is properly fol- 

 lowed up, we will have many waters under private 

 control in all the states of the Union that will produce 

 a great nian\' pounds of fish annually, to the profit of 

 the men who own the ponds. 



I have no doubt that man}^ of you have seen the 

 most valuable book that has been called to my atten- 

 tion within the year, published b}^ Mr. Armistead, 

 "The Angler's Paradise." In my oj^inion it is one of 

 the best books on fish culture that has been published. 

 He deals largel}- with this c^uestion, but does not go 

 into details in regard to it; but that he is running a 

 place in his country, at a profit, is be^'ond question. 

 Now, considering that America has not advanced as 

 she should in the artificial propagation of fish for dis- 

 tribution in public waters, it seems to me that it is 

 incumbent upon us as fish culturists to take the matter 



