88 A7ne7'ican Fisheries Society 



however, a branch of the work which requires special 

 conditions, such as purity of water, comparatively low 

 temperature, the construction of buildings and artificial 

 fertilization. The possibilities for the private or com- 

 mercial culture of many other kinds of fishes, which are 

 more widely distributed than the trouts and can be culti- 

 vated by simpler methods, should receive serious consid- 

 eration. North America is abundantly supplied with 

 hardy fishes which are available for this purpose. There 

 are no serious difficulties in the way of obtaining them 

 for breeding, and under cultivation they would yield a 

 food supply which would supplement to an important 

 degree that derived from the public fisheries. 



In Europe the cultivation of carp is carried on exten- 

 sively. This fish is now abundant in American waters 

 and, while not comparable with many of our native spe- 

 cies, already contributes annually many millions of pounds 

 to our market supply. Despised by many, it is neverthe- 

 less marketed more profitably each year in most of our 

 large cities and there is now no doubt that the carp is 

 destined to supply a considerable amount of our fish 

 food. The methods of carp culture, as practiced in 

 Europe have been frequently published in this country 

 and are available for use. It is unquestionably the easi- 

 est of all fishes to raise, and it is only necessary to turn 

 to the weekly New York market reports for assurance as 

 to its money value and extensive use. But it is our native 

 fishes which I wish to consider especially in this connec- 

 tion, as many of them have been proved available for 

 cultivation and are more acceptable as food to our people 

 than the carp. Among them may be mentioned the vari- 

 ous species of basses, perches, sunfishes and catfishes, 

 which are well distributed in our eastern states, and 

 there are other species inhabiting our western and south- 

 ern states which are also available for pond culture. 



My connection with a public aquarium has brought me 

 into correspondence with many persons who have desired 

 to undertake the raising of fishes, but whose efforts have 

 been limited to the mere stocking of natural ponds. Com- 



