152 Miscellanies. 



better than the common mackerel. Sells here, while fresh, for abont 

 ten cents — along the river, at a distance from cities and populous vil- 

 lages, for sis cents. 



From fifty to sixty years ago, Mr. Adams rarely caught over fi:ve 

 hundred shad in a season ; which was then confined to the month of 

 May. Some seasons he caught but one hundred, with the utmost 

 diligence. Before the dam was erected, shad increased quite as 

 fast as herring or sturgeon decreased 5 and the season for taking shad 

 increased to two months — beginning the latter part of April and con- 

 tinuing towards the end of June. The same diligence and the same 

 method of operating, which gave him, at most, but nine or ten hun- 

 dred shad, in the years 1789, 1790, 1791, he. gave him about twen- 

 ty thousand from the years 1820 to 1825. This gives an average 

 ratio of increase, equal to more than the whole he ever caught in 

 the years 1770, '71, '72, &;c. He says, there has not been the 

 same increase at all the fishing grounds between this place and the 

 mouth of the river. But there has been more than a tenfold in- 

 crease throughout the whole length of the river. Since this dam 

 was erected, the number of shad has been gradually diminishing. 

 He supposes the shad are reduced about one fourth, during the last 

 five years. This he ascribes to the exclusion of the shad fronx their 

 usual spawning ground, by the dam at tliis place ; as very few are 

 seen above the dam, even at Baker's Falls, formerly the best fishing 

 ground on the river. 



Queries respecting the increase of shad, on the Hudson River. 



1. Does the increased population cause an increased wash of ani- 

 mal matter into the Hudson, which serves as food for shad? 



2. Does the diminution of herring and sturgeon, cause the in- 

 crease of shad? 



S. Has a change taken place at the bottom of the Atlantic, near 

 the mouth of the Hudson, which turned the course of shad into this- 



river 



4. Does the increased number of fishermen, and the increased 

 number of improved fishing grounds, by which twenty or thirty fold 

 more are taken, kill off the older fish, leaving room for the young 

 and healthy, who can live in a more crowded situation, cause the 



.? 



mcrease r 



Such being the facts, national economy demands a reason. 



Respectfully yours, Amos Eaton. 



