EXPORTATION OF FISHES AND HATCHING APPARATUS. 1017 



pisciculture. Progress is noticed everywhere : no failures ; success in 

 every direction." 



Gentlemen, figures prove that these proud words rest ou a firm foun- 

 dation. 



To begin with the division of labor in America, we must mention, 

 first of all, a man who deserves the highest credit for his efforts. Pro- 

 fessor Baird, of Washington, who is at the head of the central or gov- 

 ernment commission. I feel it a pleasant duty to express to him on 

 this occasion the siucere thanks of the German Fishery Association 

 for the great liberality with which he has given aid to our association. 

 Might these feeble words of mine reach him across the ocean. 



Although the individual States of the Union displayed a great and 

 praiseworthy activity in the matter of pisciculture, the necessity of 

 having some central authority or board was soon recognized, in order 

 to superintend the whole of that immense territory. Professor Baird 

 was therefore, in 1873, appointed United States Commissioner of Fish 

 and Fisheries, and immediately set to work on a grand scale. He con- 

 siders his office as an honorary one. During the first three years the 

 average sum annually allowed him for pisciculture, was '$2.j,000; but 

 with his success his means likewise increased, and during the last two 

 years he has had an annual appropriation of $47,500. Through his kind- 

 ness I have in my hands his petition to Congress, of March, 1876, in which 

 he asks for an appropriation and gives his reasons for the same. As 

 the chief objects of his efforts he mentions the shad, the fresh-water 

 herring, the California salmon, the beautiful whitefish (Coregonus), and 

 the carp. He lays special stress on the fact that the central commis- 

 sion does not meddle with those duties which belong to the province of 

 the individual States, and which they can easily fulfill. But when in 

 a region of their vast territory in California, a new kind of salmon was 

 discovered preferable to our Rhine salmon*, which does not succeed 

 very well in America, Professor Baird was at once on hand : and his 

 distinguished agent, Mr. Livingston Stone, founded a large establish- 

 ment for hatching salmon eggs, from which during the first year 

 5,000,000 eggs were distributed over thirty-two States of the Union ; 

 in the following year 11,000,000 eggs were distributed, and in the next 

 year 7,000,000. The labor of tbe last year, which thus yielded 7,000,000 

 salmon, involved an expense of $10,000. Mr. von dem Borne has some 

 time ago published a charming picture, showing Stone's enterprise in 

 founding the hatching establishment among the savages. 



Eecently Professor Baird has discovered a new kind of salmon which 

 is non-migratory and has the most delicious flavor, and with his wonted 

 liberality has offered us eggs of the same. 



Professor Baird's next object was to draw up a plan of campaign, 

 having in view the introduction of the shad into every river from Florida 



* The Atljintic Salmon (.SaZmo salar.) In the following sentence the statement should 

 be changed so as to read — " Does not succeed except in the northern portion of Amer- 

 ica." — Er>. 



