120 BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. [Rub. Doc. 



THE HAKYEST OF THE SEA, 



OR 



THE RELATION OF THE FISHERIES TO AGRICULTURE. 



BY MR. W. H. BOWKER. 



The harvest of the sea is ahiiost limitless. To consider 

 the subject in its broadest relations would require the knowl- 

 edge of a naturalist and the experience of a practical fisher- 

 man. As I am neither, I shall confine myself chiefly to one 

 phase of the subject ; namely, the harvest of the sea in its 

 relations to agriculture, touching briefly ui)on the food-fish 

 industry by way of introduction. Although we are not as a 

 nation a fish-eating people, yet we are consuming each year 

 larger quantities of the products of the sea. Furthermore, 

 if our new methods of catchino; fish can be encouraged and 

 fostered by proper legislation, and the methods of transport- 

 ing it im})roved so that it can reach the remotest points 

 quickly and in a fresh state, it will become, as it is in Great 

 Britain, the cheapest animal food, and will l)e consumed in 

 enormous quantities. As it is, the amount of fish which is 

 harvested as food and shipped to all parts of the country 

 reaches immense i)roportions. 



The FooD-Fisii Harvest. 



It is estimated by ]Mr. Frederick F. Dimick, Secretary of 

 the Boston Fish Bureau, that " in the year 1891, 74,289,452 

 pounds of fish, mostly fresh fish, ecjual in A^alue to $l,()o(3,- 

 258, were received in Boston from the fishing fleet." This is 

 equal to 37,000 tons annually, or over 100 tons of fresh fish 

 daily, received in the Boston market. Boston is also a dis- 

 tributing point for salt fish ; and Mr. Dimick estimates that 

 in 1891 about 30,000,000 j)ouu(ls of salt fish, valued at 



