32 Report of the American 



of carrying the subject to its entire conclusion in the waters of such 

 States as have not yet appointed Commissioners. 



The efforts of the United States in reference to the introduction of 

 useful food fishes should not be limited to the salmonidse already men- 

 tioned (to which the various species of trout, salmon, white-fish and 

 smelts belong) and to the shad, as many other kinds yet remain for con- 

 sideration. The land-locked salmon, the European char, and the smelt, 

 will be available for all ponds or lakes of a certain extent and tem- 

 perature. In these they will pass the greater part of their time, run- 

 ning up into the tributaries or outlets to spawn. The great Danube 

 salmon, which sometimes reaches the weight of 100 pounds, would 

 find a perfectly suitable residence in the Mississippi river and its 

 tributaries, feeding on the worthless chubs, suckers and cat fish so 

 abundant therein. The alewife can be propagated to a much greater 

 extent than at present. The sterlet, a kind of small sturgeon found 

 in the Volga and in Russia, is esteemed far beyond the turbot, will 

 thrive in the Mississippi valley and in the lakes. The gourami, an 

 East India fish, can be placed to great advantage in the mill-dams, 

 ponds, etc., of the south, thriving as it does in very warm water and 

 feeding entirely on vegetable matter. It attains a weight of twenty 

 pounds or more, grows with great rapidity, and is unsurpassed in the 

 excellence of its flesh. Other species could readily be mentioned, 

 but I have stated enough to show the prospects before us in the way 

 of increasing, to an almost unlimited degree, the food resources of 

 our country, and in rendering the productiveness of our waters, in 

 this respect, superior, acre to acre, to that of land. Of course, time 

 and expenditure of money will be required, but the larger the scale 

 of operations the sooner and more effectually the result will be 

 accomplished. There is also something still to be done by the United 

 States in the way of extending the area of cultivation of lobsters, 

 crabs, oysters, etc., if not by actual planting on a larger scale, yet by 

 making the necessary experiments and supplying detailed instruction 

 for the work. It is not impossible, indeed, that the great Salt Lake 

 and other interior bodies of saline waters may be made the nurseries 

 of objects such as those mentioned above. 



SPENCER F. BAIRD, 



U. 8. Commissioner' of Fish and Fisheries. 



