VALUE OF NOEWEGIAN LAKES FOE FISH CULTURE. 545 



attempt succeeded, and aroused general attention in France, and thereby 

 an impulse was given to a new industry, which, wherever the natural 

 fundamental couditions are present or can be procured, will bear fruit of 

 particularly great value. 



Although, in the last century, this industry has received so little at- 

 tention in Europe that it might be regarded as entirety forgotten, it 

 has, notwithstanding, been known and practiced for a very long time. 

 The most ancient civilized people of the East, the Chinese!, practiced it 

 steadily to a great extent, and have practiced it from time immemorial. 

 One of their proverbs reads, "The more fish a country produces, the more 

 men it i^roduces." Artificial culture is so ancient here that it is con- 

 sidered to have been always prosecuted, and they have many species of 

 fish which are cultivated in every house, in every pond, and which are 

 regarded as belonging as much to the household as other domestic 

 animals. They belong to the great cyprinoid family, are vegetable 

 feeders, and are fed just as regularly as cattle and other quadrupeds. 

 The stock is procured by collecting annually the naturally deposited 

 spawn or naturally hatched young, and this collecting is a distinct in- 

 dustry. In the central x)rovinces, which are drained by the Yangtse- 

 kiang, near Kieow-Kiang, in the province Kiangri, in the month of 

 April, more than 150 junks of a very considerable tonnage are occupied 

 in bringing in cargoes of young, which they transport to and distribute 

 in the interior of the country. 



Just as fish culture is carried on everywhere, to a great extent, so the 

 provisions of law have constantly received attention, in order that the 

 abundance of fish in the natural waters may not be diminished by mak- 

 ing them the subject of stringent legislation. It is said that 1,222 years 

 before the Christian era, an emperor of the Tscheou dynasty, together 

 with his consort, wished to go fishing ; it was in the fourth month, during 

 the spawning season. One of the prime ministers, Tschangsype, cast 

 himself on his knees before him, and submissively called his attention 

 to the fact that he was about to violate one of the most stringent laws 

 of his empire, and that by acting thus he might bring destruction uj)on 

 one of the most important of the common means of subsistence, whilst 

 he would thereby incur a great responsibility before the tribunal of 

 history. The emperor admitted that the minister was right, and de- 

 sisted from his intention. 



Fishing in all lakes, channels, and brooks which do not immediately 



forgot to take out tlie plug, so that the boat might empty itself. On the following 

 spring, when the boat again was put in the water, little young trout swarmed in the 

 water remaining in the boat, hatched out from the spawn and milt which the im- 

 prisoned ripe fish had liberated when they were taken from the nets. Hatching may 

 also occur under peculiarly unfavorable circumstances, for it cannot be doubted that 

 the water must have been entirely frozen for a long time. To be sure, the boat was 

 in the boat-house, which, during the winter, was covered by enow ; but the place 

 lies over three thousand feet above the sea, and at tliis height the cold is considerable 

 and protracted. 

 35 F 



