78 PRACTICAL NATUEE OF THE ART. 



■due to the care and solicitude ^with wMch M. de Galbert has 

 conducted his operations. 



What strikes us most in connection with the history of 

 French fish-culture is the essentially practical nature of all the 

 experiments which have been entered upon. There has been no 

 toying in France with this revived art of fish-breeding. The 

 moment it was ascertained that Kemy's discoveries in artificial 

 spawning were capable of being carried out on the largest 

 possible scale, that scale was at once resolved upon, and the 

 government of the country became responsible for its success, 

 which was immediate and substantial. The discoverer of the 

 art was handsomely rewarded; and the great bmldiag at 

 Huningue, used as a place for the reception and distribution of 

 fish-eggs, testifies to the anxiety of France to make pisciculture 

 one of the most practical industries of the present day. Un- 

 ceasing efforts are stUl being made by the government to extend 

 the art, so that every acre of water in that country may be as 

 industriously turned to profit as the acres of land are. Why 

 should not an acre of water become as productive as an acre of 

 land ? We have dti immensity of water space that is comparer 

 tively useless. The French people are now beginning thoroughly 

 to appreciate the value of their lakes and rivers, and to cultivate 

 them with the greatest possible assiduity — there is not an acre 

 of water in the country that is not turned to use by the people. 

 Think of the fish-ponds of Doombes being of the extent of 

 thirty thousand acres ! No wondei; that in France pisciculture 

 has become a government question, and been taken under the 

 protecting wing of the state. 



The different kinds of water in France are carefully con- 

 sidered, and only fish suitable for them placed therein. In 

 marshy places eels alone are deposited, whUst in bright and 

 rapid waters trout and other suitable fish are now to be found 

 in great plenty. Attention is at present being turned to sea- 

 fish, and the latest " idea " that has been promidgated in con- 

 nection with the cultivation of sea-animals is turtle-culture. 

 The artificial multiplication of turtle, on the plan of securing the 

 eggs and protecting the young tiU they are able to be left to 

 their own guidance, is advocated by M. SaJles, who is connected 

 with the French navy, and who seems to have a considerable 

 knowledge of the nature and habits of the turtle. To some 

 extent turtle-culture is already carried on in the island of Ascen- 

 sion — so far at least as the protection of the eggs and watching 



