46 HOME FISHING AND HOME WATERS. 



would be for any one to suppose for an instant, that 

 he could produce any kind of grain or fruit on any 

 kind of soil he chose, he will readily comprehend 

 his mistake in regard to fish. The Creator, in His 

 wise distribution of things on the earth's surface, 

 placed them with an eye to their adaptability to the 

 quarters to which they were assigned. He did not 

 place whales in the inland lakes, or sturgeons in the 

 small spring streams, but He placed them in the 

 bodies of water where there was room and food in 

 abundance for them, and which were suited to their 

 peculiarities. He placed in the small spring 

 streams the brook or speckled trout, which do not 

 grow to a great size, and, as a consequence, the food 

 intended for them can be produced in sufficient 

 quantities to sustain them. He placed the sturgeon in 

 our large inland lakes and rivers, and the enormous 

 leviathan in the ocean. I have purposely taken the 

 extremes in my illustration, so as to better demon- 

 strate my meaning ; but there are many fishes in the 

 intermediate class which, as a rule, grow and in- 

 crease in proportion to the abundance of food and 

 extent of the waters they inhabit, to the limit in 

 size to which Nature, has designed they should 

 attain. 



And so in fish culture there is nothing visionary, 

 or theoretical, or in conflict with Nature's laws. It 

 is only by working with Nature and assisting her 

 that we can hope to succeed ; the very moment we 

 deviate from this path, failure is sure to follow. If 

 you transfer the bass from the river or bay to the 

 brook, and the trout from the brook to the bay, 

 they will not thrive, because the elements are not 



