522 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The reason tliat France has not advanced so rapidly in pisciculture 

 as one had the right to expect after the convincing experiments of M. 

 Coste, is that great ignorance prevails regarding the means to be em- 

 ployed. Many well-meaning persons have made and are making experi- 

 ments yielding only a partial result. This is very obvious ; not knowing 

 the well-known processes, they are obliged to try everything, to learn 

 everything, and to do a great deal by guess-work ; those who are not 

 discouraged after experimenting for two years, do not always possess 

 the means to meet the new expenses which would be required. If they 

 could acquire the knowledge they are in want of in model-schools of pis- 

 ciculture, such as these four great establishments mentioned above would 

 be, in the same way as the agricultural ftirm-schools, they would be 

 sure to succeed, and would not shrink from sacrifices for which they 

 would most assuredly in the end reap their reward. These model-schools 

 would doubtless be a great success and would greatly increase the 

 resources of France. 



6. — THE GREAT BASINS OF FRANCE. 



The basin of the Seine, which measures 4,327,000 hectares, 

 (10,817,500 acres,) on an area of 800 kilometers, (500 miles,) and which 

 is watered by the Aube, the Marne, the Oise, the Youne, the Eure, &c., 

 offers a most favorable location for the iirst of these establishments, viz, 

 the basin of Settons, located in Morvan, and proposed by M. Coste. 



In the basin of the Loire, which comprises one-fourth of France, and 

 whose principal tributaries, the Mayenne, the Sarthe, the AUier, tke 

 Cher, the Indre, and .the Yienne, traverse more than 1,100 kilometers, 

 (687 miles) it would be easy to place a second piscicultural establish- 

 ment, either between Orleans and Tours, or near Clermont-Ferrand and 

 the neighboring lakes, especially LakePavin, called the "Dead Sea" of 

 Auvergne. 



The third establishment should be j)laced in the basin of the Garonne, 

 the Dordogne, and the Gironde, to which the secondary basins of tbe 

 Charente and the Adour would belong. 



As regards the basin of the Rhone, whose course in France is 520 

 kilometers, (325 miles,) tbe fourth establishment ought to be placed 

 above the junction of the Rhone and the Saone. 



The /era, {Coregonus /era,) found in large numbers in the Lake of 

 Geneva, through which the Rhone flows, could be acclimatized in the 

 waters of Bourget, or in the lakes near the Puy-de-Dome. What a fine 

 field for experiments could be opened to human industry in France, and 

 what immense resources could be opened for supplying the people with 

 food! 



The following conclusion is easily reached: By the side of the labora- 

 tory of comparative embryogeny of the College of France, from which 

 most of the physiological prizes come which are given by the Academy 

 of Sciences, the Laboratory of Pisciculture is placed, which, up to the 



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