FISHERMEN'S OWN BOOK. 245 



the rocks in twenty-five to thirty fathoms about Kodiak to spawn in Novem- 

 ber and December, just as they do in the East, and these spawning fish will 

 at times be perfectly still on the bottom and refuse to take the hook. Youn^ 

 cod swarm near the shores, just as they were observed to do in Gloucester 

 Harbor after the experiments of the U. S. Fish Commission with artificial 

 propagation. The Pacific waters have also a genuine pollock, weaker than 

 its Eastern relative, and halibut also abound, but the cusk and haddock 

 have not yet been found in Alaskan waters. 



What One Fishing District Does for 

 THE Farmer and Planter. — To one who has 

 given the subject no thought, the extent to 

 which the fishing industry is a patron of agri- 

 culture is a matter of surprise. The jealousy 

 with which the people of the West and South 

 have regarded the protection extended by the 

 government in times past to the fisheries, and 

 which it now inadequately provides in certain concessions in regard to the 

 duty on salt, has been ill-judged and unreasonable, since equal protection 

 has been afforded to other producing interests, and the fishing business is 

 an important customer for the products of the plantation and field. A care- 

 ful investigation shows that the fishing fleet of Gloucester consumes annu- 

 ally the following products of the farmer and planter : 



Cotton, in fishing lines, seines and nets, 530,000 lbs.; in sails (yearly wear), 

 225,000 lbs,; rice, 24,300 lbs.; butter, 198,450 lbs.; lard, 182,250 lbs.; dried 

 apples, 61,560 lbs.; mustard, 1,215 ^'^^v sage, no lbs.; squashes, 26,550 

 lbs.; fresh meat, 126,765 lbs.; flour, 7,985 bbls.; beef, 4,455 bbls.; pork 

 shoulders, 1,721 bbls.; pork, 1,215 bbls.; beans, 1,822 bush.; peas, 810 bush.; 

 potatoes, 33,615 bush.; onions, 2,430 bush.; beets, 1,215 bush.; turnips, 

 1,620 bush.; meal, 1,280 bush.; cabbages, 4,560 doz.; vinegar, 1,620 gals.; 

 pepper sauce, 1,315 bottles; milk, 38,400 cans. 



To the above add the amount consumed by those employed in the fishing 

 business ashore, together with the necessary provisions for their families and 

 the families of those at sea, and it makes the fishing business one of great 

 pecuniary interest to the planter, farmer and stock-raiser. 



The Highest Price ever received for mackerel was in 1879, when sch. 

 Crest of the Wave, Capt. David Melanson, took 80 bbls. off Thacher's Isl- 

 and, of which 25 bbls. were the largest and fattest ever brought to this 

 port, eighty mackerel filling a barrel, and selling for $40. Sch. Mary Ode//, 

 Capt. McClain, took 20 bbls. of the same quality, which were sold in Bos- 

 ton, also for $40 per bbl. * 



