Sec. 13.] 



DOMESTIC FISn-BREEDING. 



2Gr 



and necessaries of life in tliis country, the small probability of any consider- 

 able reduction, and the actual sufferings of many of the laboring class from 

 ■want of sufKcient food, it appears to inc that this subject is worthy of the 

 closest consideration, and that any one who can suggest and eflect the means 

 of furnisliing a new and ample supply of cheap, nutritious food, has some 

 small claim to be thought of as not an entirely useless member of the com- 

 munity." 



There is a little book, ])ublished by the Appletons, that gives in detail all 

 the French plans for artificial fish-breeding, and any one who reads that 

 volume can go to work and stock his own waters with any kind of fish ho 

 desires. That our natural supply has failed, there is not a shadow of doubt, 

 and that it never will be replenished, except by artificial breeding, is equally 

 indisputable. That a re-stocking of our waters with fish, so as to make them 

 as plentiful as formerly, would prove one of the cheapest modes of lessening 

 the price of human food, is just as certain. 



In the West Indies, fish and turtle are constantly kept and stall-fed. At 

 free running they never become fiit, any more than our land stock. The 

 ponds are constructed of stones, of irregular figure in wall, so as to retain 

 three or four feet of water at the lowest tides. The water of the rising tide 

 flows freely in. These ponds have a deck of plank over thorn, laid about two 

 inches apart, for admission of air and light. A hatchway in the middle of 

 the floor is opened to throw in their food, which usually consists of fry, or 

 small fish, taken by cast-nets in any required quantity. When this is scat- 

 tered among them, the excessive eagerness of the fish is an interesting sight 

 — their bright eyes, finje teeth, and sparkling colors showing beautifully, as 

 they leap out of water to catch the tailing bait. 



The housekeepers send for a suitable fish for dinner shortly before the time 

 to cook it. The person has a strong line and hook, with or without bait ; he 

 lets it down, and the fish rush toward it, and he must be expert to let it drop 

 to the mouth of the grouper, handet, snapper, white or blue band porgie, 

 etc., which lie wants. Such a fish never appears on the tables of the North- 

 ern States, and yet every town on our sea-coast ought to have them. As it 

 is now, when the poor tishernum has caught more than ho can sell, the over- 

 plus is a dead loss. 



There is nothing more simple than the artificial breeding of fish. The 

 entire mystery consists in taking the female during her time, and by running 

 the thumb with a gentle steady pressure down her back, force out her ova 

 in ajar of pure fresh water. The male is then taken in the same way, and 

 nuule to yield a few drops of liie spermatic fluid in the same vessel, the two 

 are then stirred together for a few moments, and the contact of the fluid of 

 the male has the eflect to vitalize the eggs at once. The eggs are then laid 

 down in shallow tanks with gravel bottoms, arranged in n series of steps so 

 that running water can continually pass over them. The whole trouble of 

 the breeder is then to keep the eggs free from any sediment or muddy dejwsit, 

 and in due time each egg becomes a fish. Thus almost every egg in an 



