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turist that a change is coming over the spirit of the dream 
of fishculture, and in view of the fact that this change has 
its origin in, and is spreading from, the Old World, we 
must look at our laurels or else abandon the boast that we 
are the most advanced nation in fishculture. Only one 
thing can be urged against the new departure, and that is 
the cost of the land and the construction of the larger 
plant necessary for such a self-feeding establishment. But 
when we reflect that in cramped Great Britain private in- 
dividuals without Government aid have successfully ac- 
complished this thing on a paying basis, we must ac- 
knowledge that in broad and comparatively scantily pop- 
ulated America it can be done. If fishculture as a private 
business expands in this country as I hope to see it, the 
artificial propagation of natural fish food will be under- 
taken and accomplished. And to him who first does it 
will come the cream of the profits of the business. It will 
be by this process we will secure a rational, healthy diet at 
a minimum cost. 
But however willing and ready we might be to take up 
the propagation of natural fish food on a scale commen- 
surate with the demands, such an undertaking would neces- 
sarily be slow in its accomplishment, and probably consid- 
erable time would elapse before it became sufficiently de- 
veloped to be understood and relied upon. Inthe twentieth 
meeting Mr. Seal told us how easy it was to secure a start 
and propagate natural food in any desired quantity. My 
own experiments fully confirm his statements, and by con- 
sent of the Commissioner I hope soon to test them ona 
larger scale. In the last meeting Mr. Fairbank told us 
how abundantly and cheaply this food produced itself 
at his place, and how well his fish throve upon it. 
Pending the development of this new method, which I 
feel sure will yet be undertaken and prosecuted by Ameri- 
cans, I submit for your consideration the methods of feed- 
ing trout as practiced at Wytheville and Neosho Stations, 
