59 



Bureau under the control of the Imperial Forests and the Depart- 

 ment of the Imperial Household, while in the Biwa lake, Shiga pre- 

 fecture, the local government hatched and liberated 5,000,000 trout 

 and 8,000,000 carp and 1,000,000 eels from year to year. Such 

 process is to be continued for eleven years beginning with 1908. 



(2) The Model of the Hatching Ground of Salmon and 

 Trout Exhibited by the Hokkaido Local Government. 



The artificial hatching of salmon and trout in Japan was 

 started in 1877 when the Agricultural Bureau, the Department 

 of Agriculture and Commerce, by way of giving encouragement, 

 took eggs from salmon and trout in the rivers of Niigata, Nagano, 

 Ibaraki and Hokkaido, which were hatched and liberated in 

 rivers and lakes of promising nature throughout the entire count- 

 ry. There are at present some 50 artificial hatching grounds 

 of different sizes, most of which are private institutions while 

 there are two places in Hokkaido, in Niigata prefecture, one in 

 Akita prefecture which being the only public work in existence 

 are .supported by local expenditures, the number of fish annually 

 hatched and liberated in these grounds ranges from between 60,000, 

 000 to 85,000,000. Of all the artificial hatching grounds in 

 Japan the oldest and most systematized one which is carried out 

 on a large scale is the artificial hatching ground of trout and 

 salmon in Chitose, Hokkaido. The work was originated in 1888 

 after the model of the Bu xford, in the State of Maine U.S. A. 

 The American system was improved in various ways and was 

 built to form a part of the Hokkaido Fishery Experimental 

 Farm located on the upper stream of the Chitose river, a tribu- 

 tary of the river Ishikari, in Usaku village, Chitose county, 

 province of Iburi. The ground is provided with a room for 

 hatching, a culture pond, an office and other accessory buildings. 



