472 rp:poet of commissioner of fish and fisheries. [6] 



(cnip-culture) on a large scale, for who could guarantee in our times, 

 Avliieli, as regards economy, must be termed a period of transition, tliat 

 tlie present condition will continue even for a few decades? 



I do not therefore unqualifiedly advocate pond culture, and I do not 

 maintain that pond culture is calculated to make a certain piece of 

 ground yield the largest possible net income, or at any rate a larg«M' 

 income than agriculture, Avhich, under favorable conditions of soil, and 

 by being carried on in accordance with the demands of the time, will 

 generally yield a larger and more certain profit than fish-culture. 

 ICven if in some localities the income is not so large, a few acres of 

 cultivated ground will support the man who cultivates them in the 

 l»roper way, which cannot always be said of the same area used for 

 pond culture. (We do not here refer to small fish-cultural establish- 

 ments, or establishments of pond culture carried on like any other 

 branch of industry ; but even these, if conducted on the same princi- 

 ples as large establishments of this kind, would not yield a larger 

 profit i)er acre than ordinary establishments of pond culture.) The 

 conditions referred to are mostly only of a local character, and are not 

 ]iennanent, either as regards agriculture or pond culture, and, as here- 

 tofore, they will, in course of time, undergo many changes. 



If we take into consideration the fact that strenuous efforts are made 

 in our time to increase the number offish by artificial hatching and by 

 transi)lanting young fish of si)ecies far superior to the carp to waters 

 which hitherto did not contain any fish, we cannot but think that by the 

 conse<iuent extension of the " wild fisheries," especially as regards the 

 finer kinds of food-lish, it will not take more than ten or twenty years 

 to reduce the price of carp to tliat of twenty-five years ago, while, on 

 the other hand, agriculture and stock raising are constantly becoming 

 more protitable. 



Although it will therefore be the first duty of a person owning large 

 sheets of water to incpiire whether he cannot drain some of them and 

 transform them to fields and meadows, it cannot be denied that there 

 are many lakes Avhicli cannot i)ossibly be drained, and which naturally 

 suggest the question in what manner their waters may be put to the 

 most profitable use, and what means should be employed to adapt 

 them to fish-culture. 



It is ofteu imi)0ssible to drain entirely a large area of marshy soil ; 

 but by digging ditches and constructing dikes the water may be made 

 to recede to the lo\Ter ground, where, if not allowed to flow any far- 

 ther, it will form a natural basin of water, varying in size according to 

 local conditions. Much has been gained hereby, as part of the ground 

 has become suitable for fields and meadows, and as the newly-formed 

 lake may at a comi)aratively small exjjense be used for ])urposes of 

 fish-culture, while formerly the entire area, beiug marshy, yielded only 

 a scanty harvest of sour and unwholesome hay. 



