1004 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Uuited States at Hamburg, and sent by a Hamburg steamer sailing 

 from Hoboken on a Thursday. 



I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



J. C. BANCEOFT DAVIS. 

 Professor Baird, 



Smithsonian Institution^ WasJiington, 



Berlin, Germany, December 7, 1876. 



Much Esteemed Sir : I have received from you, through the kind- 

 ness of General Meigs, a letter, dated November 16, 1875, which was 

 much valued by me. If I address you to-day simpl^^ with thanks for it, 

 without dilating upon it further, it is because I should like to confer with 

 you upon many circumstances which, at the present, I consider more 

 important. 



As temporary chairman of our German Fishery Association, which 

 has, indeed, the honor to count you among its members, I shall probably 

 be called upon, in February, 1877, to make a statement of the great 

 efforts which the Uuited States of North America are making in the 

 matter of artificial propagation of fish, compared with the hitherto small 

 beginnings made by us. 



As material for my statement, I have, in the first instance, through 

 your kindness, your letter of March 13, of this year, concerning the ap- 

 propriation of $17,500. 



Besides these, I have — 



2. Proceedings of the American Fish Culturist Association. 



3. Eeports 1874-'76 of the commissioners of the State of New York. 

 All the above-named through Mr. Eobert Eoosevelt. 



But I do not find in any of these pamphlets exact estimates, which, 

 indeed, do not belong to them, of the amount of money placed by your 

 central government at your disposition, honored sir, as the United 

 States Commissioner ; as, for instance — 



1. For salary for yourself, and, perhaps, other members ; allowance 

 for lodgings, costs of of&ces, and the like. 



2. For means for carrying out your objects ; as, for instance, the trans- 

 l^ortation of shad to California ; of California salmon thence to the rivers 

 of the East ; the erection of the appropriate buildings in California, «S:;c.; 

 all of which are matters which I have read of with the greatest interest. 



Under the circumstances under which this letter is forwarded to you, 

 may I be so bold as to ask, to how much do the sums for all the above 

 amount : A, 1873 ; B, 1874 ; C, 1875 ; D, 1876 ? Together with these 

 questions of statistics, which I willingly resign if my questions touch 

 upon confidential matters, I should like to make a practical request. 



In the '• Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries of the State of New 

 York," transmitted February 1, 1875, it is said, page 10, "Mr. Monroe A. 



