. ILLUSTRATIONS. 118 



r i'he' fishes were about the length of a man's little finger ; were supposed to be 

 young whitings, and were about a bushel in quantity. 



Fishes may be propagated and brought from a distance in different ways. The 

 gold fish of China has been imported alive in water from Europe to this country. 

 Tench and carp have been introduced into England in a similar way. Our 

 lakes and rivers may be stocked with proper fish, by bringing spawn in jars ic 

 imitation of the Chinese, who often fetch the spawn of particular fishes from & 

 great distance. Carps weigh from twenty to forty pounds, and live from one 

 hundred and fifty to two hundred years; their fecundity is amazing; six hun- 

 dred thousand eggs have been found in one carp. They may be carried ninetv 

 miles alive, packed in snow; and they are often fattened out of water, by being 

 wrapped up in wet moss. Such a fish would be a great addition to our lakes- 

 Success Pond, in the town of North Hempstead, was stocked, by dr. Mitchili, 

 with perch, which he conveyed alive from a pond forty miles off. 



About fifty years ago, a mr. Jacobi of Hanover, in Germany, after preparing 

 a trough with gravel at the bottom, in a particular way, through which spring 

 water was made to flow, took a female trout, and pressed and rubbed its belly 

 gently, by which means it parted very easily with its spawn, without any pre- 

 judice to the fish, in a basin of clear water ; he then took a male fish, and 

 rubbed and pressed its belly gently, in the same manner, to let the melt, or 

 soft roe, out, in the same basin where the female roe was in, and then stirrr* 

 ihem together. The same result would follow if the roe was cut out of dead 

 fishes and mixed together in the same way. He then spread the mixed span-a 

 in the trough before the water was let in, and he then let in the water. A 

 more particular account of this process is inserted in the 34th volume of the 

 Philosophical Magazine. In this way he bred annually vast quantities of sal- 

 mon, trout, and other fresh river fish. 



It is calculated that one third of the inhabitants of Switzerland are maintained 

 by fish from their fresh water lakes. When we consider the number of lakes, 

 ponds, and fresh water streams, in our country, and the facility with which 

 they may be supplied with the best kinds of fish, there can be no doubt but 

 that, in course of time, this salubrious and copious source of subsistence will be 

 Considered an object worthy of attention 



