Pish Culture in Inland IVatcrs 213 



ture or " artificial propagation " was hailed with unbounded enthu- 

 siasm. To those persons most concerned — the State Commissioners, 

 fishermen and anglers — artifical propagation was the " Sesame " 

 which was to open the gates through which the sea, rivers, lakes and 

 streams were to be rehabilitated. In 1872, one enthusiast said: 

 " Every stream on the Atlantic seaboard can be so filled with shad 

 that they will sell at all the fisheries at one cent a pound within the 

 next ten years." Another predicted that " the time is not distant, 

 if we may be allowed to forecast the future, when every available 

 river or stream of the continent will be as carefully cultivated as ever 

 our soil was, for the augmentation of this great source of food." 



Dr. Theodatus GarHck of Cleveland, Ohio, is generally credited 

 with the first successful attempt at artificial propagation in the United 

 States. In 1857 he published "A Treatise on the Artificial Propaga- 

 tion of Certain Kinds of Fish, with Descriptions and Habits of Such 

 Kinds as are the Alost Suitable for Pisciculture." While in his 

 preface Dr. Garlick states that he would " endeavor to present the 

 reader with not only a complete description of such American fishes 

 as are best suited by their qualities and habits for artificial propaga- 

 tion and culture, but also the best methods of propagating and rear- 

 ing them ; together with the most appropriate kinds of waters for 

 each kind described," his most signal success was with the " brook 

 trout." 



Concerning this first attempt Dr. Garlick wrote that early in the 

 spring of 1853, Prof. H. A. Ackley and he decided to make brook 

 trout the subject of their first experiment in artifical breeding. 

 During the following years others went into trout breeding as private 

 ventures. Some of the most noted of these fish cultural pioneers 

 were Thaddeus Norris, Seth Green and Livingston Stone. In the 

 early sixties Alaine, New Hampshire and ]\Iassachusetts established 

 State Fish and Game Commissions, wdiich gave the marine anadro- 

 mous fishes, such as salmon and shad, the first propagative and legisla- 

 tive attention, but incidentally extended their stocking activities to 

 inland waters and to other fishes. Other states soon followed the 

 example set by these New England States. Private enterprises, how- 

 ever, continued to exist in some of the eastern states. These latter 

 were particularly interested in the propagation and sale of brook 

 trout. There were numerous trout farms in New York, New Jersey 

 and the New England States, which found a lucrative business in the 

 sale of trout eggs, young fish for the purpose of supplying other 

 ponds, and in furnishing hotels with full grown trout, which were 

 sold for a comparatively high price. 



The combined interests of private concerns and state commissions 

 led to the formation of the American Fish Cultural Society, now 

 known as the American Fisheries Society. This Society is credited 

 with being one of the agencies instrumental in bringing about the 

 establishment of the Federal Commission of Fish and Fisheries, now 

 the Bureau of Fisheries, U. S. Department of Commerce. 



The decline of the sea and river fisheries was the first object of 



