1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



239 



rial properties abounding in their stables, pig-pens 

 and privies ! Let us, unlearned farmers, take cour- 

 age. One of our coarsest operations — one that we 

 almost blush to perform — has become scientific, 

 and is minutely described in the "Annals of Scien- 

 tific Discovery ?" Thus profit, health and science 

 unite in urging upon every farmer and upon every 

 family the system of "dry-earth disinfection." 



INLAND FISHERIES. 



As the readers of the Farmer are well aware, 

 we have always been favorably impressed by the 

 experiments in pisciculture, or fish growing, in 

 this State and elsewhere, and believe that it is an 

 industry deserving not only of careful study but 

 of a fair share of protection at the hands of our 

 Legislatures. The sulgect is brought to mind 

 again, bj' the report of the Commissioners of Fish- 

 eries, a document of great interest, and containing 

 important statistics concerning this branch of 

 industry. 



It is gratifying to know that, even with the 

 moderate amount of protection so far granted, 

 there is already evidence that valuable migratory 

 fishes, which had become almost unknown in cer- 

 tain sections, are once more beginning to return 

 to their old grounds, and their increase, with the 

 enforcement ol proper restrictions against those 

 who would "clean out" the streams for mere 

 sport, is a question of time only. 



The complaint now made in behalf of our inland 

 fishermen, and those who depend on the tidal 

 waters along the coast, is that our legislation has 

 been partial, incidental, and spasmodic; and that 

 one who intends to make a profession of fish cul- 

 ture, as others make a business of stock-growing, 

 is obliged to go through the te^lious and uncertain 

 forms of special legislation for protection. Unless 

 he is armed beforehand, he is not armed at all, 

 however just his quarrel may be. The law recog- 

 nizes his chickens and protects them ; how it 

 treats his fishes, the commissioners illustrate as 

 follows : — 



"He owns the land roundapondof twenty acres, 

 and a fine spring fed brook, which flowing thence, 

 rnns to the salt water. He puts up a hatching- 

 house; digs his pools; makes a dam and flume. 

 He batches and rears large quantities of trout, 

 wliich grow rapidly, and' live in the pond and 

 brook, and go also to the sea in their season. One 

 fine morning, he finds ha!f-a dozen men fishing at 

 the mouth of his brook, each one with a basket 

 full of his trout. He remonstrates. They replv, 

 'tidal water!' and go on fishing. In despair he 

 seeks consolation in his pond. Lo! there are 

 more men with more liaskets of his trout. Again 

 he remonstrates. 'Great pond !' reply the anglers. 

 'Over ten acres— free tbwling and fishing accord- 

 ing to ancient charter!" Sadly he seeks to ease 

 his mind by strolling up a tri!)utary brook which 

 comes in through a neighbor's land. Behold! 

 there is the neighbor himself, with a basket of 

 trout taken from the brouk. 'Very sorry,' says 

 the neighbor; 'the trout ma,y be yours; but the 

 brook is mtneV ' 



It is suggested that our laws on the subject need 

 only to be generalized into a system, and accom- 



panied with suitable encouragement for the propa- 

 gation offish, to make our rivers alive again. 



The commissioners, says the Advertiser, have 

 had a variable, but in the main encouraging ex- 

 perience in the construction of fishways. When 

 they began the v/ork at Lowell, some of the fac- 

 tory superintendents looked on with a qui^zzical 

 air, and suggested that the fish must have a 

 sbhoolmaster to teach them to go up the steps. 

 But the shad and salmon which had been waiting 

 for the chance since 1849 knew better, and schools 

 of them found their way into the upper waters 

 without a master. But it is to the cultivation of 

 food fishes, which long-continued improvidence 

 has driven from our waters and made a costly 

 luxury in our markets, that attention has been 

 mainly devoted. Individual curiosity and enter- 

 prise had already prepared the way. Methods 

 which, under the auspices of the French govern- 

 ment, have made waste and barren waters more 

 productive than the same area of arable land, 

 have been tried with remarkable results. And 

 though the prolonged hot weather last July made 

 temporary havoc with Seth Green's spawning- 

 fields at Holyoke, there is no reason to doubt 

 that the means which have been successfully 

 tested elsewhere may also be used to stock our 

 waters with the life that is suited to them — "the 

 carp, perch and pike, for sluggisn streams, lakes 

 and ponds; trout for the bounding brook, and 

 salmon for the clear, swift rivei-." 



For the X^eiv England Farmer. 

 HEN MANURE. — SUPERPHOSPHATE. 



I see an inquiry in last week's Farmer by 

 William Allen of North Holland, Vt., in re- 

 gard to mixing hen manure and ashes. I have 

 been engaged in making comparative experi- 

 ments with commercial and other fertilizers 

 for the last two years. Perhaps the results 

 may be interesting to Mr. Alien and other 

 readers of the Farmer. 



I mixed eight bushels hen manure with about 

 the same quantity of rich loam and one peck 

 of plaster. I used a bushel of this mixture 

 to 140 hills, which yielded 144 pounds sound, 

 and two pounds soft corn. One peck of ashes 

 was added to three pecks of the above com- 

 post, to which was also added one quart of 

 salt ; applied it immediately to 140 hills and 

 covered it up, which yielded 109 pounds of 

 sound and 7 pounds of soft corn. No other 

 manure was used. I left 140 hills with noth- 

 ing, for a base, which gave 84 pounds of sound 

 and 21 of soft com. 



It will be seen that the mixture without the 

 ashes increased the crop 72, and that with the 

 ashes, 80 per cent. These divisions were side 

 by side and received the same culture, and the 

 results were carefully weighed and noted. 



Two years since, I mixed my hen manure 

 and ashes, — both perfectly dry, — without com- 

 posting. The crop was increased 50 per cent., 



