ANDEESSEN, FISHERY EXHIBITION, PHILADELPHIA, 1-7G. 57 



muiiber of oysters is caught in IMarylaud (Chesapeake Bay) and Dehi- 

 ware (Cape May and tlie Dekiware Bay). Tlio salt-water fisheries are 

 most highly developed in Massachusetts, whilst tlie most important fresh- 

 water fisheries are in New York and Maryland, where the most excel- 

 lent measures have been adopted for increasing and d<'veloping the fish- 

 eries. In the following I shall give a brief description of these fisher 

 ies, chiefly from the official reports of the State superintendent of fisheries 

 for the State of New York, Mr. Seth Green, and tlie commissioner of 

 fislieries for the State of Maryland, Mr. Ferguson, but partly also from 

 my own personal observations. 



Every State which takes an interest in the fresh-water fisheries has 

 its own fish-commission and a superintendent of fisheries responsible to 

 this commission. The State makes an apiiroiiriation so as to enable 

 him to carry on his work, which consists in increasing the number of 

 fish by every possible artificial and natural means, and in encouraging 

 and furthering pisciculture. At the head of the fisheries stands a United 

 States Commissioner of Fisheries, at present Prof. Spencer F. Baird, 

 of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, a naturalist of great 

 fame. 



The magnificent and costly hatching-houses and fish-ways which have 

 been established in the States of Maryland and New York show the in- 

 genuity, the i)ractical manner, and the extent to which pisciculture is 

 carried on in these States. The results obtained by these establish- 

 ments are truly astonishing, as millions of fish of every kind are called 

 into existence, filling the large rivers and lakes. It is especially those 

 kinds of fish which are considered the best food-fish, e. f/., salmon, trout, 

 and shad, that form the princii)al objects of pisciculture, but other fish, 

 if they are of any value at all, are not neglected. The populous cities 

 of America are therefore as a general rule well supplied with fresh fish, 

 which form an important article of food. American pisciculture, which 

 includes a system of protection with carefully framed regulations for 

 protecting the young fish, has attracted great attention especially in 

 G-ermany, where of late years hatching-houses on the American plan 

 have been established under the superintendence of a gentleman from 

 New York. The result of these experiments is not known to me. I can- 

 not say with absolute certainty how many millions of fish are annually 

 hatched and placed in the many lakes and rivers of America, but their 

 number must be very considerable. 



Of the hatching-houses those invented by Mr. Seth Green, of lioches- 

 t-er, N. Y., and by Mr. T. B. Ferguson, of Maryland, deserve the great- 

 est attention, constituting the New York State hatching-house in Cale- 

 donia, N. Y., the Druid Hill hatching-house in Maryland, and the fish- 

 ways near the Great Falls of the Potomac. Eecently so-called " ponds" 

 for keeping live fish and for protecting young fish have been established 

 in the Detroit River. These "^ ponds" are sheets of water hedged in with 

 poles joined by boards in such a manner that the water can circulate 



