REPORT. 



HON. L. L. POLK : 



SIB : In accordance with your request I submit below the 

 operations in Fish Culture in North Carolina since April 1st, 

 1878. My immediate presence in the execution of all the work 

 done since that date, has given me the advantage of innumera- 

 ble facts which bear directly on the future of this work. But I 

 have written to you frequently as new points developed, and in 

 numerous conversation? have so fully set forth the needs and 

 requirements that were pressing, that I will not attempt to en- 

 ter all of the details in this report. This art is so new that very 

 few among us have had an opportunity of looking into it suffi- 

 ciently to know its requirements or to pass judgement on past 

 o orations. Hence, I infer, is due the honor your honorable 

 Board has bestowed on me in leaving the execution and the de- 

 tails of the work entirely in my hands. During the past twelve 

 months, ending the 1st of April 1879, we have released in the 

 North Carolina waters over three and one-half millions of young 

 shad, three hundred thousand California Salmon, fifteen thous- 

 and five hundred Land-locked Salmon from Maine, and fifty 

 thousand Mountain or Brook Trout. All of this was done at an 

 expense of less than three thousand dollars, and among the ex- 

 penditures was a sum of not less than five hundred dollars in 

 permanent structures and hatching and distributing apparatus, 

 tools, &c., now on hand, including all salaries. This sum 

 when compared with results will bear favorable comparison with 

 similar work done any where on the globe. To convey an idea 

 of the immense returns in fish culture, I will make a statement 

 which may surprise you. California Salmon attain an average 

 weight of 20 pounds, and sell readily at twenty-five cents a 

 pound. If we suppose that ninety-nine per cent of the three 

 hundred thousand hatched this season are never heard from and 



