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the waters by aiding their imperfect efforts we restore to our 

 land at a nominal cost its millions of wealth that our streams 

 annually bear away to the ocean. Who knows the value of the 

 constituents of our gliding rivers, and by what means can we 

 reclaim it ? By the judicious expenditure of a few thousand 

 dollars annually we can attain it. If our people Icok this year 

 for any return from what has been done, they must remember 

 that the patient farmer sows his seed and waits till they have 

 had time to develope and mature. No shad return in one year, 

 and indeed no roe shad ever returned to fresh water till the 

 third year. 



Long ago fish became scarce as the population of Europe in- 

 creased and fish culture there is an established thing. Millions 

 of fry are annually liberated from their hatching houses, and 

 such judicious laws have been made as to foster and protect 

 them. In Great Britain a river yielding in 1853 less than 2,000 

 Salmon was majde to produce in 1866 upwards of 20,000. The 

 Tay then leasing for $43,500 came up in 1866 to $75,000; and in 

 Ireland in 1866 one thousand tons of Salmon were transported 

 against almost none ten years previous. In the United States 

 we find shad now nourishing in the Sacramento river in Califor- 

 nia, where they were unknown till placed there in 1871. The 

 first results seen on the Connecticut from artificial propagation 

 of shad increased the usual catch seven fold. Twenty-five 

 thousand shad were taken in one locality one morning and the 

 Northern markets were overstocked and the price of eighteen 

 dollars per hundred reduced to three ! In that river the Sal- 

 mon had entirely disappeared, but in 1872- ? 73 fry were intro- 

 duced and since that time sufficient numbers of 12 to 18 pounds 

 weight have [returned to justify increased operations. The 

 fruits of past work are also being seen on the Delaware, Susque- 

 hanna and all other streams where the fish have had time to ma- 

 ture and return. On the Merrimack a dam of 25 feet height 

 completely cut off the passsage of Salmon to their spawning 

 grounds, and for thirty years not one was seen, but by introduc- 

 ing the fry from other streams they have found that upwards of 



