102 FISH CULTURE. 



the soil suited to it, &c. &c. ; we have shows and 

 prizes for the best specimens of agricultural pro- 

 ductions, and thousands of persons assemble to note 

 and study them ; but who ever thinks of acclimatizing 

 an apparently worthless water-weed ? 



Now all plants, even to the meanest looking weed, 

 have their uses for man ; and among the fauna of the 

 world, there must be many which would be valuable 

 to us in the light above indicated. We have received 

 one from America the alsinastrum. This weed has 

 hitherto been a terrible nuisance, growing so rapidly, 

 as to fill up and choke our smaller rivers, in many 

 instances, in an incredibly short time ; but it might 

 be that this weed, so troublesome and so difficult to 

 eradicate in the south, would be a great benefit to the 

 hill and moor lakes of the hard north. Hardy water 

 plants, in which insects can thrive, are greatly wanted 

 there : and it might be found that the introduction of 

 the alsinastrum, and its attendant insects, would have 

 a very favourable effect on the size and flavour of the 

 trout found in such places. I do not of course say 

 that this is so, but I merely suggest the possibility 

 in order to point out how such designs could be 

 carried out. It would in time become a very interest- 

 ing and valuable fact, to hear that Mr. So-and-so had 

 brought home a new water-weed, favourable to the 



