buffalo and carp, and incidentally of the finer varieties, but tliese 

 latter in the same proportion as they are produced under natural con- 

 ditions. Our reasons for this opinion may be thus summarized. It 

 is difficult; even with the most advanced appliances used in artificial 

 l^ropagation, to improve upon nature's methods., and the nearer we 

 can come to natural conditions the greater the probability of success- 

 ful results. Investigation shows that in most of the waters of our 

 State the coarser varieties greatly outnumber the finer or game fishes. 

 This is partly due, perhaps, to the fact that the warm and muddy 

 waters of most of our streams and lakes i^roduce the food essential to 

 the life and growth of these coarser fishes, and i^artly, perhaps chiefly, 

 to the difference in the nature and life habits of the two species, the 

 buffalo and carp reproducing their kind in almost fabulous numbers 

 annually, while the finer varieties reproduce only to a very limited 

 number each season, and being of voracious and predatory habits, 

 consume as food not only the spawn and fry of other species, but 

 their own as well. Then, again, the rapid growth of the coarse fi.she« 

 is an important factor to be considered, when quantitj' rather than 

 quality is the desideratum. The carp and buffalo will attain a weight 

 of four pounds or more in two years, while it would require many years 

 for a bass to attain equal weight. It seems to us that the work of the 

 Fish Commission should be to produce cheai? food from the waters 

 for the supply of the people who most need it. in such quantities and 

 of such kinds as to be easily accessible to the greatest number, not 

 only for the angler, but for the masses who want fish for food, not as 

 a luxury. Statistics are always dry, yet they are vital when the in- 

 terest they represent is being considered, and the figures will show 

 that our inland waters better produce, and in the greater numbers, 

 the coarser varieties of fishes, thus iDutting them more readily within 

 the reach of the class whose interests we should protect, the laboring 

 men. We do not want to be understood as favoring, in any sense, 

 the discontinuance of the rearing and distribution of the basses, 

 crappie, and kindred fishes, for we hold that the waters are all the 

 better for their introduction, and that up to a certain limit they 

 thrive and do well. On the contrary, we believe that their propaga- 

 tion and distribution can easily be carried on at the same time the 

 other varieties are being x)ropagated, but we hold that no matter how 

 much money maj'^ be spent in the propagation and distriVuition of the 

 finer fishes, under natural conditions they will never become so plenti- 

 ful as to be a cheap article of food, but will always remain a luxury, 

 while it is possible to produce such an abundance of the coarser 

 varieties, which are easily propagated, as to plant at or near each 

 hatching station not thousands but millions annually of their young, 

 and that with only a small percentage of the cost incidental to the 

 rearing and distribution of the finer varieties. The artificial propa- 

 gation of the carp and buffalo has been reduced to such a certainty 

 that at least 90 per cent, of the eggs can be successfully fertilized 

 and hatched, and with the appliances we have already at hand we can 

 make rapid and successful distribution. In fact, our steamboat can 

 be so arranged as to enable us to hatch upon it the varieties named, 

 and distribute them as fast as hatched. 



