390 



THE STURGEON. 



fisher feels something touch his pole he hauls up quickly, and 

 the sharp-b:-arded prongs are fastened into the fish, and if a 

 large one the struggle to land him is a severe one. The sport 

 is exciting, for our inhabitants will leave their work when 

 the sturgeon comes ! The merchant leaves his counting- 

 room, and the mechanic his tools. There have been over one 

 hundred caught thus in one day. A large quantity of eggs 

 are saved for the manufacture of caviar." 



The hooks are made by the blacksmith of three-eighths 

 inch wire, steel-tipped and bearded, and as sharp as a needle. 

 " We have both the rock and the round-nose sturgeon, the 

 same that are on the Hudson and the great lakes." 



In the olden time the sturgeon was regarded as a royal 

 fish, the property of the crown. R. B. Roosevelt, Esq., Presi- 

 dent of the Fish Culturists' Association, at the fifth annual 

 meeting of the society, in New York, in February, 1876, said 

 of this fish : " Sturgeon was so abundant in old times that it 

 was sold as low as one cent per pound, but its indiscriminate 

 destruction promised to run up the price to one dollar per 

 pound, like that of trout. Sturgeon is a most excellent and 

 nutritious fish; so is the fresh herring, much valued in the 

 old country, but here both are treated with contempt." 



Mr. Seth Green has been directed to restock the Hudson 

 with this fish, and in a few years they will exist in as great 

 plenty as when the renowned Hendrick first sailed up this 

 most grand and beautiful river, and isinglass and caviar, the 

 great production of the sturgeon, will be as cheap and abun- 

 dant as in the olden time. 



