70 Thirl i/sl.rlli Annual Mn'lunj 



is the opposite, and caeli year we are obliged to buy Froin abroad 

 seven or eight millions of freshwater fish. '^^Fhiis we ])ay a heavy 

 tribute to the stranger, — to Germany, to Bolginm. to Holland, 

 who are our suppliers. It is a situation that ought to be reme- 

 died, as each year our water-courses are getting more barren." 



M. Mercier's Fui-tber remarks illuminate the situation so 

 much that we continue the quotation : 



"What are the causes ? 



"These causes the minister of Agriculture has clearly de- 

 fined in his remarkable report on the budget of agriculture in 

 190-t, together with the remedies. 



"Of these causes, some may b(> abated, others should be sup- 

 pressed, — and among the latter we point out especially the de- 

 population of our water-courses which is practiced with the use 

 of various substances, especially the berries of Coccus Indicus. 



"It is necessary to regulate and even suppress the use of coc- 

 cus berries, and to punish with the utmost rigor the public male- 

 factors who employ such and those who use lime and dynamite^ 

 which are equally efficient means of destroying the fish of our 

 rivers. 



"Further, there is one point on which all the world is in ac- 

 cord ; — that is, that to repeople our water-courses it is necessar}' 

 to resort to artificial reproduction. That is fully imderstood by 

 the Direction of the Forests. Charged in 1897 with the service 

 of fisheries, it has made the most laudable efforts, and established 

 several stations. Many departments and communes have fol- 

 lowed its example. Finally, private initiative has worked won- 

 ders : it has foimded nrnnerous fishery societies. Of these so- 

 cieties, which numbered 150 in 1898, there are today 600. 



"But all these stations, whether public or private, are wanting 

 in the essential for success, — they lack brood fish. They are 

 obliged to obtain abroad, especially from German sources, from 

 stations in Baden, Saxony and Wurtemberg, the millions of eggs 

 that they handle. What wc need is a grand station of fishculture 

 which can furnish gratuitously to our fishery societies and the 

 other stations belonging to the state, to the departmimts and to 

 the towns all the eggs that they are now obliged to get in 

 Germany. 



"We had constructed the station of Bouzev, but Bouzev ha- 



