1024 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES [(3] 



national life. To do this, let us determine the quantity of nutritive 

 matter derived from the fish caught and prepared in various manners in 

 Russia. In doing- this we may restrict ourselves to the consideration of 

 the albuminous matter as the most important constituent of animal food. 

 Let us first select for our calculation those more importaut species of 

 fish about which Mr. Grimm's pamphlet gives definite data, and for 

 which we have also analyses: 



Puds. 



1. Pike-perch, amount sent out from Astrakhan, not less than 2,000,000 



2. Salmon, caught in various places, not less than 60, 000 



3. Smelt and spirling 1,000,000 



4. Salt-dried "vobla" 3,000,000 



5. Bream, Bhield-fish, etc 3, 500, 000 



6. Astrakhan herring 7, 000, 000 



7. Sturgeon, sturgeon caviare, and " Lalyk" 1,500,000 



It will be seen from Mr. Grimm's figures that this whole amount of 

 fish, which is mostly in a preserved condition, corresponds to 25,000,000 

 puds of fresh fish. Consequently, the quantity of all other kinds of 

 fish caught every year amounts to not less than 15,000,000 puds. 



Assuming that in the fishes mentioned above two-thirds of the weight 

 is flesh and one-third makes up the weight of bones, skin, etc., it will 

 be found, with the aid of the analyses given before, that the amount of 

 dry albumen obtained from these fishes is not less than 2,330,000 puds. 

 Assuming further that in the remaining 15,000,000 puds of fish the 

 skin, scales, bones, etc., amounts to one-third and the flesh to two- 

 thirds of the total weight, and supposing all these fishes to be such 

 as contain the least amount (10 per cent.) of albuminous matter, the 

 amount of dry albumen obtained will be at least 1,000,000 puds. 



We thus find that we annually derive from our fisheries 3,330,000 

 puds of albuminous matter. This estimate is certainly below the actual 

 amount; first, because many fishes contain more than two-thirds of 

 flesh ; second, because the annual yield of the fisheries in Russia is no 

 doubt greater than 40,000,000 puds. At first sight this figure of 3,330,- 

 000 puds of albuminous matter may not appear very great. To realize 

 better its true signification let us try to calculate what resources would 

 be required to obtain the same amount of animal albuminous substances 

 from cattle. 



Let us suppose that, to replace fish as food, we keep black cattle of 

 such kind that, on an average, every head when fully grown weighs 20 

 puds. Such an animal will contain 45.9 per cent, of flesh without 

 bones, or 9.18 puds; and this flesh will contain 1.01 puds of albumi- 

 nous matter. ls T ow, to obtain from such black cattle 3,330,000 puds of 

 albuminous matter annually it will be necessary to kill not less than 

 2,000,000 head of cattle a year. 



Let us further assume that our cattle will be ready for slaughter 

 when four years old; it will be seeu that the supply of cattle in Russia 

 would have to be increased by 8,000,000 head of cattle for slaughter 



