146 



aquatic £itr 



from which eggs cannot be taken at all, 

 or from which they can only be taken 

 with much trouble or possible injury to 

 the culturist. In this class are placed a 

 few nest-building species that take vigi- 

 lant care of both eggs and young, and 

 where fertilization by natural methods is 

 even better than by artificial expression. 



Pond culture is the oldest of the three 

 methods. The practice dates back to very 

 ancient times. The Romans, the Greeks 

 and the Egyptians all raised fish by that 

 means. So did the Chinese. Indeed there 

 is reason to believe they were the first. 

 There are records showing that more 

 than five hundred years before Christ a 

 Chinese built a pond and dotted it with 

 islands. The avowed idea being to fool 

 the fish and make them believe they were 

 in their natural environments, and that 

 the islands were continents. The cute 

 Chinaman placed about twenty fish in 

 the pond. At the end of the first year 

 the pond contained several thousand fine 

 fish ; by the close of the second, several 

 hundred thousand, and at the end of the 

 third there were so many that this pio- 

 neer fish culturist couldn't count them ! 

 That this man did business there is no 

 doubt, but we are forced to the conclu- 

 sion that he either outclassed Ananias 

 or did better than any culturist since his 

 time, for nowadays a man may count 

 every fish he can raise by pond culture. 

 In fact, pond culture produces less fish 

 than any other method. 



The artificial expression of eggs from 

 fishes was discovered by a Jesuit in 

 France during the latter part of the fif- 

 teenth century. He fertilized trout eggs 

 and hatched them in a hatching box 

 which he invented. His discovery made 

 no stir and was forgotten after his death. 

 This important feat was not learned 

 until many years after, and then only by 

 the accidental discovery of old records 

 in the monastery in which he had lived. 



In the middle of the seventh century, 

 Count Jacoby, a German nobleman, re- 

 discovered artificial fertilization and 

 hatching of trout eggs. Curiously 

 enough, his hatching apparatus was al- 

 most identical with that of the obscure 

 priest. Jacoby was a scientific man and 

 published his experiments and results. 

 The pamphlet was translated into several 

 languages, and excited widespread scien- 

 tific interest, but no one seemed to think 

 there would be any practical use for it. 



It was not until after 1840 that fish 

 culture by artificial expression and fer- 

 tilization of eggs was put a practical use, 

 and it is a curious fact it didn't come 

 through the discovery of Jacoby. His 

 work, like that of the priest, had been 

 forgotten. The world owes practical fish 

 culture to two Breton fishermen. These 

 two peasants became interested in watch- 

 ing trout spawn, and they made what to 

 them was an amazing discovery, that the 

 eggs of the trout were not fertilized until 

 after they left the body of the female. 

 Wondering if the eggs could be pressed 

 from the female, they tried it with suc- 

 cess. They devised a hatching appara- 

 tus which proved successful, and then 

 communicated their discovery to the 

 French government. The officials were 

 profoundly impressed and appointed one 

 of the men, Gehin by name, a commis- 

 sioner to instruct others in the new art. 

 Gehin's partner in this work, Mons. 

 Remy, was forced to drop out because of 

 illness. 



An American was among those who 

 took lessons from Gehin, and he im- 

 parted his knowledge to a Dr. Garland, 

 of Cleveland. Dr. Garland became en- 

 thusiastic, and fertilized and hatched a 

 lot of salmon-trout eggs. A few years 

 later, in the early sixties, William Ains- 

 worth, a New Yorker, started a commer- 

 cial trout hatchery. He was followed 

 almost immediately by Seth Green, and 



