FIFTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 



37 



At former meetings of the Society you have been favored by 

 the eloquent speeches of statesmen who judged rightly that 

 fish culture was worthy the statemen's consideration. Unless 

 the statesmen of this generation have lost the art of wise and 

 wholesome statecraft, we shall hear from them still further on 

 this subject, if not in our deliberations, yet more potently in the 

 State Capitols and in the halls of Congress. You have been 

 honored by papers and addresses from men of your own num- 

 ber who have won distinction by knightly deeds — no less 

 knightly and honorable because won in the unromantic armor 

 of waterproof- coats and rubber boots — in conflict for the secrets 

 of nature, wresting from nature's willing hands the knowledge 

 that practical men have been gathering and storing up against 

 the day when the millions that are peopling and are to people 

 this continent, shall cry ont for more and better and cheaper 

 food. You all know the men to whom I refer, so there is no 

 need of mention of their names. I know them, not by personal 

 acquaintance and familiar discourse, but none the less really, 

 through their writings and experiments, which have made it 

 possible for men of the class to which I belong to accomplish 

 something for the States which have honored us with the over- 

 sight of their fishing interests. Without the knowledge which 

 has been gained and freely disseminated by these intelligent 

 and devoted men, the fisher}^ establishments of many of the 

 States would have no existence, or their officers no reasonable 

 and sufficient answer to make to their State governments when 

 asked as they so frequently are, " Can fish-culture do anything 

 worth the expense for the food supply of the people of this 

 State ? " Have we then any such answer to make ? That we have, 

 — that the answer is reasonable and sufficient I shall try brietiy 

 to show. While we have not learned all there is to know about 

 the culture of fishes and artificial propagation of them, enough 

 is known both scientifically and experimentally to place the 

 practical art of fish-culture beyond the domain of mere curious 

 research, and make it a useful, and to the same extent, a neces- 

 sary department of the public business. To this practical 

 aspect of fish-culture I invite your attention. In using the 

 expression "fish-culture," I mean to be understood as including 



