360 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



M. Coste then advised that the numerous ponds of Ver- 

 sailles be employed as " stables" wherein to propagate fishes 

 for the waters of France, believing that in those spacious ba- 

 sins fishes which inhabit alternately the fresh and salt waters, 

 such as the salmon, shad, lamprey, and plaice, might be culti- 

 vated. The advice was followed with unsuccessful result. 

 In the mean time, two engineers of bridges, MM.Detzem and 

 Bertol, made large profits by peopling the Canal du Rhdne. 

 They had been invited by the prefet of Doubs to verify the 

 method in use in the Vosges, when, with assistants, they 

 hatched in four months 3,382,000 eggs of salmon, trout, perch, 

 pike, etc. On May 7th, 1851, they placed in basins confided 

 to their ^pare 1,583,111 fishes recently hatched. 



The facility for hatching fishes by millions induced them to 

 calculate how many fishes might live in the fresh waters of 

 France. Estimating the actual population to be twenty-five 

 millions of fishes, they concluded that by four years' artificial 

 hatching the number would be increased to three billions, 

 one hundred and seventy millions, and yield a revenue of 

 more than nine hundred millions francs. 



It was evident that they had consulted but one side of the 

 question, and that the least difficult. Myriads of fishes may 

 easily be hatched, but the questions of greater import are, 

 how are they to be protected, subsisted, and made to grow ? 

 These are the questions which most seriously address them- 

 selves to the student of modern fish-culture. The brains of 

 Bertol and Detzem were made dizzy by he presence of a cal- 

 culation which proved millions of revenue easily obtained, 

 and they exclaimed, " Is it possible to endow France with 

 such a revenue ?" On the examination of results so unexpect- 

 ed, no member of the Fisheries' Commission evinced a senti- 

 ment of distrust, stating that they were aware the calculation 

 produces the same impression on all those who examine the 

 subject. 



Bertol and Detzem, encouraged by the Minister of Agricul- 

 ture and Commerce, followed their work with great zeal, and, 



