1105 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



for its food. It will thrive in waters partaking of the chalybeate quality, in which few other fish 

 would live. 



7581. The gold fish (Cfprinus aurfitus L.) is an inhabitant of the rivers of China and Japan, and is 

 naturalised almost every where on account of its elegance and vivacity ; the colours vary greatly, but 

 are naturally and mostly of a most splendid golden hue; scales large. It is bred in small ponds in 

 gardens near London and Paris for sale, as an ornamental inhabitant of crystal vases, or garden basins 

 of water. 



7582. The minnow (Cyprinus Phoxinus L.,f), the dace {C. lentiscus Z ), and the roach {C. rutilus 

 L.), are very small fish, which abound, the first in gravelly streams, and the others in still waters ; both 

 are useful as affording food to other fish, and may therefore be put into fish ponds. They are also very 

 good to eat. 



7;"83. Of the trout and salmon fami'li/ there are several species, as the lake trout, gilt and red charr, 

 which inhabit Alpine lakes in northern countries, and might probably be introduced with advantage into 

 the lakes of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and the Highlands of Scotland. The red charr is caught in 

 Keswick lake. The salmon and salmon-trout (Salmo 5'^lar, and 5. Trutta,) require salt water and a river; 

 and the fresh water trout (S. i^rio) requires too rapid a stream for art to imitate ; they succeed, how- 

 ever, to a certain extent, in very slow-running waters which are clear. 



758*. The nilmon is a very prolific fish ; both male and female are frequently fit for propagation during 

 the first year of their age. The roe of the female is found, on an average, to contain from 17,000 to 

 20,000 ova or eggs. During the months of August, September, and October, the reproductive organs, 

 both of the male and female salmon, have more or less completely reached maturity, at which period the 

 instinct of propagation impels them eagerly to seek rivers, and to ascend nearly to their sources, in order 

 to find a place suitable for the deposition of their spawn. They no longer, as in the winter and spring 

 months, roam over the coast and shores, and return backwards and forwards with the flowing and ebbing 

 of the tide ; but pursue the most direct route by the mid-channel up the rivers, and make the greatest 

 efforts to overcome every obstacle, either natural or artificial, that may impede their progress. The 

 spawning is accomplished in the months of November, December, and January. When the parent fishes 

 have reached the spawning ground, they proceed to the shallow water, generally in the morning, or at 

 twilight in the evening, when they play round the ground two of them together. After a turn, they 

 begin to make a furrow, by working up the gravel with their noses rather against the stream ; as the 

 salmon cannot work with his head down the stream, for the water then going into his gills the wrong 

 way, drowns him. When the furrow is made, the male and female return to a little distance, one to the 

 one, and the other to the other, side of the furrow. They then throw themselves upon their sides, again 

 come together, and rubbing against each other, both shed their si>awn into the furrow at the same time. 

 This process is not completed at once ; as the eggs of the roe must be excluded individually, from eight 

 to twelve days are required for completing the operation. When the process is over, they betake them- 

 selves to the pools to recruit themselves. The spawn thus deposited is afterwards covered with loose 

 gravel ; and m this state the ova remain for weeks, or sometimes much longer, apparently inert, like 

 seeds buried in the soil. In an early spring the fry come forth early, and later when the spring is late. 

 Generally, they begin to rise from the bed about the beginning of March, and their first movement is ge- 

 nerally completed by the middle of April. The appearance which they present is that of a thick braird of 

 grain rushing up in vast numbers. The tail first comes up, and the young animals often leave the bed 

 with a portion of the investing membrane of the ovum about their heads. From experiments that were 

 made upon the roe, it appears that they can only be hatched in fresh water; for when a portion of the 

 roe was put into salt water, none of the ova ever came into life; and when a young fish that had been 

 hatched in fresh water was put into salt water, it showed symptoms of uneasiness, and died in a few 

 hours. When the evolution from the ova is completed, the young fry keep at first in the eddy pools, till 

 they gain strength, and then prepare to go down the river, remaining near its sides, and proceeding on 

 their way till they meet the salt water, when they disappear. The descent begins in the month of March, 

 continues through April and a part of May, and sometimes even till June. The reason why the fry thus , 

 descend by the margin in rivers, and the mid-channel in estuaries, is apparently, according to Dr. Flem- 

 ing, because the margin of the river is the easy water, and consequently best suited to their young and 

 weak state : but when they reach the estuary or tide- way, then the margin of the water being the most 

 disturbed, the fry avoid it, and betake themselves to the deepest part of the channel, disappearing alike 

 from observation and capture, and so go out to sea. After remaining some weeks at sea, the smelts or 

 samlets, as the fry are called, return again to the coasts and rivers, having obtained a pound or a pound 

 and a half of weight; by the middle of June they weigh from two to three pounds, and are said to in- 

 crease half a pound in weight every week. They are now known in Scotland by the name of grilses, and 

 by the end of the fishing season they have obtained the size of seven or eight pounds. In the first five 

 months of its existence, that is, from April to August, both inclusive, it may be stated that the salmon 

 reaches, in favourable circumstances, eight pounds weight, and afterwards increases, though more slowly, 

 yet so as to have acquired the weight of thirty-five pounds in thirty-three months. After the process of 

 spawning is completed in the river, the parent fishes retire to the adjoining pools to recruit. In two or 

 three weeks from that time, the male begins to seek his way down the river ; the female remains longer 

 about the spawning ground, sometimes till April or May. The fishes which have thus spawned are deno- 

 minated kelts. In their progress to the sea, when they reach the estuary, they pursue a course precisely 

 similar to the fry, not roaming about the banks like clean fish, but keeping in the mid-channel. They are 

 at this time comparatively weak ; and in thus betaking themselves to the deepest part of the channel, they 

 are better able to resist the deranging effects of the flood-tide, and to take advantage of the ebb tide 

 in accelerating their migration to the sea. It appears that some which descend as kelts in spring return 

 again in autumn in breeding condition, a recovery which is no less remarkable than the early growth of 

 these animals. The sea seems to be the element in which the salmon feeds and grows. When caught in 

 fresh water, not only is their condition comparatively poor, but scarcely any thing is ever found in their 

 stomachs. In estuaries and on coasts, on the other hand, they feed abundantly, and their stomachs are 

 often found full of sand-eels. {Edin. New Phil. Jour. Jan. April, 1828.) 



7585. The eel (A/urae'na .4nguilla L.) inhabits almost every where in fresh waters ; grows sometimes to 

 the length of six feet, and weighs twenty pounds ; in its appearance and habits something resembles the 

 serpent tribe ; during the night quits its element, and wanders along meadows in search of snails and 

 worms ; beds itself deep in the mud in winter, and continues in a state of rest ; is very impatient of cold, 

 and tenacious of life : the flesh of such as frequent running water is very good ; is viviparous, and has 

 116 vertebra;. One advantage of the eel is, that it will thrive in muddy ponds of very small size, where 

 no other fish would live. 



7586. On the subject of cultivating fishes it may be observed, that the waters of some ponds are better 

 adapted for raising some sorts of fish than others. Thus, those where the water is rich and white are 

 more adapted for carp; while such as have a thicker appearance, and where there is a greater deposition 

 of muddy matter, are better suited to tench. Perch are capable of being raised in almost any sort of 

 ponds. Eels succeed best where the ponds are not very large ; but where fed by a spring, and there is a 

 large portion of rich sediment. Pike should never be kept in ponds with carp or tench ; but in separate 



breeding- ponds, where the supplies of small fry are considerable and not wanted for stores. Carp, tench, 

 and perch are the sorts principally cultivated with a view to profit, with a few eels occasionally. But 

 perch and eels should not be admitted where the ponds are but thinly stocked, as they are great devourers 



of the young fish. Carp and tench answer best together where the extent of the ponds are pretty large j 

 as, in other cases, the former, from being a much more powerful fish, beats and deprives the latter of his 



