18 



beyond the fii'st outlay, which in most cases is comparatively very small 

 indeed. 



To these two facts just mentioned, of the marvelous increase of fishes, 

 and the absence of any cost in the keeping and growing of them, should 

 be added a third, in order that the merits of fish culture should be fully 

 brought out. This third fact is the one just alluded to, viz: the very 

 slight compiirative extent of the original outlay. Two or three thou- 

 sand dollars, for instance, will place twenty million young Shad in the 

 Hudson or Connecticut Eivers. A thousand dollars will phice a million 

 Salmon in the Sacramento River. Millions of White Fish — not the AVhite 

 Fish of California, but the very valuable " Coregonus Albus," of Lake 

 Superior — can be hatched at an expense of not many hundreds of dol- 

 lars. I saw, this Spring, some handsome young Salmon, of about two 

 pounds each, that wei-e caught with a hook and line in Merced Lake — as 

 fine looking fish as I ever saw. Two hundred dollars, expended by the 

 Stale, will put one hundred thousand of these fish into any lake of Cali- 

 fornia. These instances are, perhaps, sufiicient to show how small is the 

 original outlay, in fish culture, compared with the returns. Now, if 

 these three facts are taken into consideration, viz: the marvelous annual 

 increase of fishes, the absence of any cost of keeping and growing, and 

 the insignificant character of the original expenditure, it will be seen 

 that the cultivation of fishes promises advantages that eminently com- 

 mend it to the public approval. 



If, in answer to this last statement, it should be objected that the 

 Fish Commissioners do not make a success of all their enterprises, a 

 simple reply may be found in the fact that when they do succeed, it 

 more than off'sets all their failures. The}' can afibrd to fail a great 

 many times if they make a success at last, for that success will pay 

 over and over again for all that the failures cost. For example, the 

 United States Fish Commission is introducing California Salmon into 

 many places in the Eastern States, where they will, undoubtedly, be a 

 total failure, but should the Commission make a success of a single 

 river of the size, or half the size of the Sacramento, it would pay for all 

 that has been expended in this direction on all the other waters of the 

 United States. To come a little nearer home, let us see what bearing 

 the foregoing remarks have upon the work of the California Fish Com- 

 mission. Their appropriation for this year and last, has been two 

 thousand five hundred dollars a year. With this small sum, they have 

 introduced various kinds of Eastern fish, including among others. Lob- 

 sters and Shad, into California waters, and have added a million Salmon 

 to the stock of the Sacramento River, besides distributing many thou- 

 sand Eastern Trout throughout the State. Now 1 do not suppose 

 that every branch of these enterprises has been a success, but I venture 

 to say that if Lobsters alone were successfully planted on this coast, 

 or if Shad were introduced with success into the Sacramento Eiver, the 

 returns to this State from either enterprise would be such that the 

 paltry outlay of two thousand five hundred dollars a year would sink 

 into insignificance in comparison. If everything the Commission under- 

 takes is a failure, even then the loss has not been much, and the risk 

 has been more than justified by the brilliant character of the promised 

 results, and if one considerable success is achieved, it will more than 

 compensate for all losses. 



In this connection it may be mentioned that the people are in great 

 danger of being misled on this point, bj'^ inferring that the work of any 

 specified Commission is a failure because it has failed in some insigniti- 



