AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 455 



method proposed for the increase and development of the natural 

 resources of the State. Our agricultural interests have justly 

 received a share of legislative attention and patronage. Kindred 

 to these, and of nearly if not quite equal importance, is the subject 

 embraced in the petition of Mr. Pell. We wish to call your atten- 

 tion to the means best adapted to multiply the sources wliereby 

 may be derived the supply of animal food to meet the wants of a 

 rapidly increasing population. 



Hitherto we have relied to a great extent upon the bountiful 

 hand of our mother Nature. Our lakes and streams, our forests 

 and rivers, teeming with animal life in its various forms, have 

 been the vast and seemingly inexhaustible storehouses to which 

 we have been accustomed to look for our supply. 



The experience of every year, however, is teaching us that with- 

 out the hand of man actively co-operating with that of Providence, 

 we cannot much longer draw from these sources. 



As oui woods diminish game becomes scarce. Our fisheries, ill 

 protected by legislation, are rapidly deteriorating, and should the 

 present state of things continue will soon be little more than a 

 name. 



The method proposed by Mr. Pell for stocking our inland 

 streams and rivers with salmon, is one which has been tried in 

 France and Gre^t Britain with complete success. We quote from 

 a communication sent by him : 



"Fish may be artificially propagated two ways in any quantity. 



"The first is by taking the male and female alive and compel- 

 ing them by gentle pressure to deposit their ova and milt, which 

 are then mixed together, and so placed that a constant stream of 

 aerated water will pass over them, and if the water retains an 

 average temperature of 37 degrees they will hatch in 108 days; if 

 45 degrees, in 99 days; if 48 degrees, in 75 days. 



"The second method is to mix the ova and milt of fish that have 

 been some time dead and subject them to the same treatment. 

 They will produce living fish. When young salmon first emerge 

 from the egg, the yolk remains attached to the abdomen behind 

 the gills, and afibrds the small fry sufiicient food for at least thirty 



