:;: 'i A Plea for River Fisheries. Ciiapt. xxv. 



and very few comparatively to less than two or four ounces. It 

 seems fair to assume for the purpose of calculation, that on an 

 average the fry weigh at an early age not less than a grain each, 



Though every owe an ' 1 are Oxidated to grew to one pound 



has been taken to weight. Is it worth while to turn these grains 



make the numerals . 



in this paragraph, ot meat into pounds, or, in other words, to allow 



and fcTSES as tlw?m t( > ^^1 themselves by 7,000, for that 



possible under the i s the number of grains in a pound. Is it 



circumstances, and 



to err on the side of worthwhile to turn 507,000,000 grains, or 



StaTof^ob^ Sl > {m V'^uh, of meat into 567,000,000 



eration,stai large pounds, or 253,125 tons, of good food ? Though 

 multiples of com- * . 



])!irutivciv small mul- the average weight attained, and consequently 



rally more^or^less tne multiple employed in this calculation, be 



Fruitful i f error, and reduced by a half or three-fourths, to meet the 



these Qgures >hould j 



cons.N|urnii : i.,. re- destruction by fish preying on each other, the 



lied on only for the „ . . , ... . ... .... , ... 



purpose for which ngures which will remain will still be siith- 

 thej j e !'!"''.' '", ciently indicative of the largeness of the results 



troduced, that of J ° 



presenting an n]>- obtainable from the protection of fry. And 



proximate idea of ..... , , , . 



the amount of food against this reduction may he advanced the 



argument that, by maturing so many more fish, 

 the number, which are to produce ova in succeeding years, will 

 also be greatly increased. 



39. This, be it remembered, is the destruction of fry computed 

 to be still continuing. It was much greater before the discoun 

 ment of the finely-twined cruives in the rivers, which alone must 



have destroyed vast numbers. If the calculation 



Parn. 20. , • , 



made in the preceding paragraph were applied 

 also to the fry spoken of in paragraph 20, there might ho conveyed 

 a move adequate idea of the extent of the destruction foolishly 

 wrought. 



40. If, then, the machinery for destruction is so great, and it is 

 possible not only to stay its destructiveness, but even to use it as a 

 machinery for propagation, should not the opportunity be availed 

 of? 



-11. In the matter of pisciculture something has already been 

 gathered from the Chinese. This intelligent, though uncommuni- 

 cative, people have long practised it. and as they also have rice- 

 fields, it is probable that they have thoroughly studied how to 

 overcome irrigational obstructions. On this, the main Indian 



