86 AMERICAN 



2. When they go out, do they remain near the 

 river mouth, or do they stand out far into the deep 

 sea, or do they retreat in a direction parallel with the 

 coast, to the warmer waters of the South ? 



The different classes of fishermen, and the different 

 modes of fishing, have been considered at some length, 

 in order to show that LAWS ALONE will scarcely pro- 

 vide for a great increase of our valuable fishes, and 

 this because there is a greater or less opposition and 

 rivalry among those classes, which breaks up unani- 

 mity of PROTECTION, while the effect of their com- 

 bined action is unanimity of DESTRUCTION. That 

 good laws will be a wholesome check there can be no 

 doubt, but they alone will not suffice to make our 

 rivers and ponds a sure source of abundant food in 

 the same sense that our pastures are so. 



On artificial breeding the Commissioners intend, 

 if possible, to make experiments next summer on a 

 large scale, both in the Connecticut and Merrimack 

 Rivers. If seconded by the authorities of Connecti- 

 cut, there is no reason why the fisheries, within two 

 or three years, should not be a good deal augmented. 



When the fish way at Lowell was building some of 

 the factory superintendents (very intelligent men about 

 FACTORIES,) said that the fish must have a school- 

 master to teach them to go up those steps ! The 

 next year shad and salmon DID go up, and without 

 any schoolmaster. The nearer we get to the truth 

 the more it stands out that artificial propagation and 

 free passage over dams are the two great conditions 

 of restocking rivers. The question of pollution as- 

 sumes a smaller proportion. It now appears that 

 sawdust does not kill trout, but their SPAWN only, 

 and that chemicals, unless in unreasonable quantity, 

 do not much affect a great stream. The dreaded 

 Winsor Locks turn out to be comparatively innocent 

 of the destruction of young shad. Reasonable care 



