236 PROPAGATION OF FISH. 



Agriculture to examine into the subject. His report was 

 so favorable and so fully confirmed by subsequent inves- 

 tigation, that the government took the matter under 

 their own care, established extensive works, stocked to 

 repletion many of the rivers, and now supply all France 

 with impregnated egg or young fry of the best varieties. 



In England, that land of sportsmen, the discovery was 

 hailed with enthusiasm, and put in immediate and suc- 

 cessful operation. Millions of trout and salmon were 

 hatched, and the results were truly wonderful. Rivers 

 that had ceased to afford a single fish were made to teem 

 with them, and large revenues were obtained from the 

 fishing rights. Over a million fish were introduced into 

 the waters of one company, and surprising discoveries 

 were made as to their growth. In" Scotland, a large 

 number of young salmon or smolts, being one year old 

 and averaging an ounce weight, were marked by cutting 

 off the adipose dorsal fin of every hundredth fish, and 

 allowed to descend to the sea. They returned in two or 

 three months, the smallest weighing three pounds and a 

 half, and the largest nine pounds and a half. Suppose 

 that one hundred thousand out of the three hundred 

 thousand hatched returned, having gained an average 

 weight of five pounds, and worth in New York market 

 forty cents a pound, will some one that is good at figures 

 please calculate the hook and net profits. 



Yery confused ideas of the growth of fish are popularly 

 entertained ; numerous contradictory statements are to 

 be found in the books and to be heard from sportsmen, 

 but the truth is generally missed ; in fact, everything 

 depends upon the food. A strong fish grows the fastest ; 



