714 



PANAMA CANAL. 



In time, however, the entire areas will be 

 known, and all future extension of the fishing- 

 ground will be artificial in these areas. New 

 beds will probably be found off the months of 

 creeks or rivers, and not far from beds already 

 known. The extension of old can be effected 

 by depositing suitable " cultch " upon the bot- 

 tom near the beds, so as to afford a place for 

 the attachment of the drifting u spat." Stones, 

 ballast, old shells, etc., make excellent cultch, 

 which should be exposed late in the spring. A 

 number of mature oysters being deposited with 

 the shells, materially aid in extending the beds. 



As the consumption of the oyster is con- 

 stantly increasing, any failure of supply will 

 of course add to the price and induce exhaust- 

 ive fishery; and in time it will become so great 

 that strict protective laws, rigidly enforced, 

 will be required in order to prevent the destruc- 

 tion of this branch of industry. 



Inasmuch as legislation on this subject will 

 probably be needed ere long, Lieutenant "Wins- 

 low suggests several points worthy of consid- 

 eration. Organized and systematic efforts 

 ought to be made to discover new beds and to 

 extend the old ones. Experiments also, look- 

 ing to the artificial cultivation of oysters,* 

 ought -to be made and continued. A fishery 

 commission, composed of intelligent men, with 



special knowledge on this subject, should be 

 appointed; and a fishery-guard should be put 

 under their control. This commission should 

 endeavor to prevent exhaustive dredging; to 

 secure the reservation of beds containing a 

 large number of young growth ; to put a stop 

 to the removal of the young growth ; to enforce 

 the strict observance of the close times; to see 

 that the beds are cleansed before the advent 

 of the young brood ; to have exposed suitable 

 " cultch " when the bed has been long worked ; 

 and to destroy star-fish, drills, etc., that may 

 exist on the beds. The following warning is 

 given by Professor MObius: " In North Amer- 

 ica the oysters are so fine and so cheap that 

 they can be eaten daily by all classes; hence 

 they are now, and have been for a long time, 

 a real means of subsistence for the people. 

 This enviable fact is no argument against the 

 injuriousness of a continuous and severe fish- 

 ing of the beds. . . . But as the number of 

 consumers increases in America the price will 

 also surely advance, and then there will arise 

 the desire to fish the beds more severely than 

 hitherto; and if they do not accept in time 

 the unfortunate experience of the oyster-cult- 

 urists of Europe, they will surely find their 

 oyster-beds impoverished for having defied the 

 lioconotic laws." 



PANAMA CANAL. The project of con- 

 necting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by 

 means of a tide-level ship-canal across the Isth- 

 mus of Panama, has been carried through its 

 preliminary stages during the year, under the 

 charter granted by the Colombian Government 

 to a French company. The first constitutive 

 meeting of the Interoceanic Canal Company, to 

 which the grant of the original Internation- 

 al Company (see "Annual Cyclopaadia," 1878, 

 title COLOMBIA) had been transferred, was held 

 in Paris on the 31st of January, M. Ferdinand 

 de Lesseps presiding. A report was submitted 

 by M. de Lesseps, in which the impracticability 

 of the rival Nicaragua scheme was dwelt upon, 

 and it was stated that agreement with the 

 United States authorities had been reached, 

 subject only to the proviso that the neutrality 

 of the canal should be assured. It was further 

 stated that subscriptions had been received for 

 1,209,609 shares of the stock of the company, 

 of which 994,458 were given in France. The 

 entire capital would be 600,000,000 francs, one 

 half of which would be covered by the issue of 

 obligations, the other half beinjr distributed in 

 shares of 500 francs each. The report also 

 made known that seventy engineers, superin- 

 tendents, and doctors had already been sent to 

 the Isthmus, that steam-engines had been or- 

 dered, and that arrangements would be made 

 for the employment of 8,000 laborers. A sec- 



* See "AnnuafCyclopsedia," vol. xU (1879), p. ~59T 



ond constitutive meeting was held on the 3d of 

 March. The report then made stated that there 

 were 102,230 shareholders, and that the work 

 would probably be completed in 1888. Borings 

 and examinations which had been made showed 

 that there would be from 73,000,000 to 75,000,- 

 000 cubic metres of earth to be removed. The 

 estimated cost of excavation was 430,000,000 

 francs ; construction of weirs and trenches to 

 convey fresh water to the sea, 46,000,000 

 francs; and the establishment of a dock and 

 tide-gates on the Pacific side, 36,000,000 francs 

 making the total cost 512,000,000 francs. 

 The contractors, Messrs. Couvreux and Her-- 

 sent, whose operations were placed in charge of 

 M. Blanchet, would begin the great cutting at 

 Culebra by October, and, before the end of the 

 year, work would be begun all along the line. 

 At this meeting the company was unanimously 

 declared to be definitely constituted. 



The engineers and others, who left Paris early 

 in January, arrived at the Isthmus about the 

 middle of February. M. Blanchet followed 

 in April, for the purpose of pushing forward 

 the surveys and examinations of the ground 

 as rapidly as possible, and preparing for the 

 work that was to follow. There were already 

 seventeen brigades of surveyors in the field, 

 and it was announced that the results of their 

 examinations were so favorable that it was 

 believed that the route would be somewhat 

 shortened, and the time and expense necessary 



