[7] t'AILtJkfiS AND SUCCESSES OE EISH-CULTURE. 443 



IMOgiesH mtist be sought in the fact that much time aud energy was 

 wasted in most unpractical experiments by attempting to raise vahiable 

 lish accoi ding to methods totally oi)posed to their mode ot Hie. Thus, at- 

 tempts were made to raise salmon {JSalmo salar), sea trout ( Trutta trutta), 

 and lake trout {Trutta lacnstris) in ponds. These experiments, of course, 

 ])roved unsuccessful, and people began to lose faitli in fish-culture. 

 Any one who wishes to acquaint himself with this subject should read 

 Ulaiu-hard, and he will get a very clear idea of h'rench lish-eultnre, 

 which never got beyond mere dilettantism. Only in excei)tional cases 

 were moderate results obtained in the raising of brook trout. 



In stating that up to 18G2 the Iluniugen establishment had cost the 

 Government G00,00() francs [$115,800] without being able to show cor- 

 responding results, Professor Malmgren forgets that Muningen distrib- 

 uted all eggs gratuitously, and therefore derived no income from this 

 source; while tlie expenses for procuring fish-spawn were very consid- 

 erable. While in the possession of France, Iluningen was an ex])ensive 

 Institution ; it supported numerous agents, and paid high prices for 

 eggs, all of which cost considerable sums. When Professor Malmgren 

 lays special stress on the fact that, during the period of 1855 to 18(J2 

 about 30,000,000 salmon eggs were impregnated in Iluningen, I must 

 confess that I do not consider this an unusually high tigure, for it would 

 only be about 3,500,000 per annum. If we consider that France (not 

 counting in her colonies) was at that time a country with an area of 

 207,480 square miles, and a population of 38,000,000, the quantity of 

 eggs given above is by no means very large, especially in view of the 

 great liberality of the French Government which gratuitously sent to 

 foreign countries large quantities of eggs. All these facts seem to have 

 been overlooked by Professor Malmgren. 



In spite of all the disa])pointments to which France was doomed, 

 Blanchard, from whose above-mentioned work Dr. Malmgren derives 

 his information, is by no means positively opposed to artificial fish-cult- 

 iire; all he desires is, as he states on i^p. 010-^23 of Ins work accom- 

 panying (in translation) Dr. Malmgren's report to the Senate, that fish- 

 culture should be carried on in a rational manner, and particularity that 

 ' fish should not be raised in a w\ay totally different from their accustomed 

 mode of life, and that, under all circumstances, fish should be placed in 

 I waters where they find a sufficient quantity of wholesome food. In 

 I short, Blanchard wants the right fish in the right water. He also 

 I wishes the law to protect the w%aters from pollution, and desires fish- 

 ways to aid the ascent of the migratory fish. That France, in spite of 

 ' numerous failures, has not finally abandoned artificial fish-culture will 

 , be seen from the fact that she has, at Government expense, founded a 



I new establishment at Ei)i:ial, in the Vosges Mountains, which o])erates 

 J with i-iver water and seems to obtain good results. (See article l)y 

 !| Meyer: '■'■ Tj'm Besuch cler neuen franzosisclien Fischziichtanstalt hei Epi- 



II nal^^'' in Deutsche Fischcrel-Zeitung, 1883, pp. 1G4 and 180.) 



