INTRODUCTION. 9 



forty million white fish have been produced from the 

 egg in a single year. A careful estimate of the 

 annual catch of the rivers and lakes of the States, 

 taking the tributaries on the Atlantic and Pacific 

 coast line, and on the shores of the great lakes, with 

 the minor streams that form the larger, is 184,783,050 

 pounds. To these must be added the commercial 

 product of the sea; and the quantity altogether rises 

 to enormous proportions. First in importance, fish- 

 ing is the means of livelihood to thousands of people, 

 and next it furnishes relaxation, amusement and 

 healthful occupation to millions of men and boys all 

 over the land; and we are pleased to note, to an in- 

 creasing number of experimenters and devotees of 

 the fairer sex. 



The fish commissioners of the State of New York, 

 in their last report, remark that the cost of hatching 

 100,000,000 of fish, including the expenditures for 

 real estate, buildings, permanent improvements, la- 

 bor etc., is $250,000. If of this number, one-fourth 

 part or 25,000,000 live, the cost of each is one cent. 

 At a fair valuation these fish are worth fifteen cents 

 each. The investment, therefore returns 1500 per 

 cent, or $3,750,000 for the $250,000, and the land and 

 betterments remain. The commissioners in other 

 States are able to make a similar exhibition of cost 

 and product, and the people at large annually pro- 

 fit by this culture both at table and in pocket, and in 

 the way of " sport." Laws are enacted for the 

 preservation of fish, penalties are exacted for viola- 

 tion of these laws, and war is waged against illegal- 

 ities in the shape of nets, lights, medicating waters, 

 and the use of unusual and abnormal appliances. 



