[15] FAILURKS AND SUCCESSES OF FISH-CULTURE. 451 



to the Netherlands, which country makes the very best use of her nit 

 ural advantages. The Dutch catch a very large quantity of saW .' 

 and even in poor years the monthly yield of their salmon fisheries is esti' 

 ^^ted at about 10,000 hshilJeutsche Fischerei.Zeitung,1880 p 909) t,,,; 

 success of the salmon fisheries in the Rhine valley, from the Dutch 

 German frontier, mainly depends on high water in the Netherlands at 

 the seasoDs when the salmon ascend the river, and when the Dutch 

 fisheries either come to a close or are only carried on in a desultory 



Jl^sTo*, Y^Snr'^"' ^r^"^" '"^ ®^'^^^ ^"^"^^" ^"^^'^^^ (^^« those 

 of 18/9 and 1880), even when the conditions of water and weather are 



not entirely unfavorable, must not lead us to the conclusion that the 



plantmg of youug salmon in the German portion of the Ehine valley 



has been a failure. Thus, Mr. Bieler, of Basel, reports, in 1880, that 



for the last three years there had been more salmling (salmon which 



have not yet been to sea) in the Ehine, than the oldest fishermen could 



, recollect [Deutsche Fischer ei-Zeitung, 1880, p. 411). Not to trace such 



I facts to the planting of artificially-hatched youug salmon is sheer oh- 



stmacy m spite of better knowledge. If we could get reliable ami full 



reports on tlie Dutch salmon fisheries, conclusive proof could doubtless 



- be funnshed of the good results of the planting of young salmon in the 



; middle and upper valley of the Rhine. Unfortunately this has, so far 



I not been possible. The statistics of the salmon brought to the Kra- 

 i) Imgsche Veer (the largest Dutch fishmarket) do not give us the full 



II figures, because the dealers often buy their fish direct from the fisher 

 j| men. The number of fish brought to the Kraliugsche Veer by the fish- 

 J| ermau has also decreased, owing to the iiict that all fish brought to that 

 \ market have to pay a tax of 5 per cent of their value. While in ISO'l 

 ,3o300 salmon were brought to the Kraliugsche Veer, the number in 

 . 1869 was only lo,o00, which decrease, under the existing circumstances, 



can by no means be construed into a decline of the Dutch salmon fish- 

 1 enes. ^bee Mr. Quakernaat's Dutch report, in Circulars of the German 



f««n!? t''^^^^^*^«"' 1^71' I' P- 24.) During the period from 1870 to 

 1 1880 the largest number of salmon brought to the Kraliugsche Veer in 

 , a year was 77,070 (in 1874), and the smallest 21,687 (in 1870) (See Cir 

 ijculars 01 the German Fishery Association, 1881, p. 148 ) 

 „ In view of the Dutch robbery-system of fisheries, we may well main- 

 ,tain that, it Germany and Switzerland did not annually plant lar-e 

 Ijquantities of youug salmon, the Dutch fisheries would not long con - 

 ,tmue as successful as they are at present. Such rich fisheries cannot 

 ijmerely be the result of natural spawning, for on the Upper Rhine the 

 paters m which the salmon find suitable spawning places are anything 

 ,.but. numerous. To become convinced of this, one has only to see the 

 jiivers and streams which in Baden flow from the Black Forest into 

 , he J.hiue, and which in their lower and middle course have generally 

 jOcen subjected to so many impioveinents that it would be hard for the 

 ttealmon to find a spawning place ; numerous xveirs, moreoyer, hinder the 



