FOREST AND STREAM, 
825 
choose for preference the Piedmont section when such 
a much wider field lies before him in the Talley and 
western counties. 
Six. nay five years ago, such a thing as a Jointed rod, 
much less a cast of flies, had never been seen by the 
mountaineers that dwelt and fished and poached in.,hap¬ 
py innocence of legalities in those, remote glens. It was 
about the spring of 1874 that then- weak minds were first 
astonished by the sight of two gentlemen from a neigh¬ 
boring town , wading up the centre of their stream in 
stvange and fantastic garb, resplendent in wading stock¬ 
ings, creels, landing nets, and jointed fly rods. Hack 
reigned in Israel in those days. 
“ "Wliat,” said that worthy, as he laid upon his horny 
palm a small sized black gnat, “ catch a fish with that 'ar 
thing?” But catch them they did, and so did many 
others who now and again came from a distance and con¬ 
tinued to astonish the aboriginees with the same strange 
tackle and the same extraordinary success. Fish laws 
followed, bed-tickings and seine nets were abolished, and 
close times enacted—the means to enfore these laws 
which might at first appear scanty, were the privileges 
of preserving forcibly presented to the minds of the nu¬ 
merous and uneducated riparian proprietors. From the 
plains below to thesources of the streams, high upaniong 
the mountain, the squatter revelled in his new dignity, 
and many famous stories are told among the woods of the 
great difficulties that ensued and still exist under this very 
excellent system. Tom dare not for his life slip a bed-tick 
into a pool, lest Dick, who lives just below, and to whom 
he refused leave to fish the week before, should spot him 
and report according. Combination between them is dif¬ 
ficult, as the family higher up, again has an old standing 
feud and would jump at the chance of exposing them. A 
total stranger would, 1 actually believe, have more chance 
of committing illegal acts if he felt so inclined—he cer¬ 
tainly lias very little difficulty in fishing where he pleases 
—and if the slightest hitch is suspected from any quar¬ 
ter, a present of one fly will square everything for life, 
so great is the infallibility now supposed to be iu the once 
sneered at feathery charm. 
(To be Continued.) 
GREEN GILL OYSTERS. 
Editor Forest and Stream 
I had been down to North Carolina on a gunning trip 
and was returning in company with several ‘’Tar heels,” 
who were on their way Nortli to buy goods. Two weeks 
shooting had given me a sharpened appetite, and that 
longing for the oyster that was shared by my companions 
who each had a countryman’s love of fish and bivalves— 
on the principle, I presume, that we aU. want what we 
can’t get. Our train stopped at Petersburg for supper, but 
it was unanimously resolved to wait until our arrival at 
Richmond, where we could probably get belter oysters. 
Our's was a gay party, and 1 cannot avoid giving you one 
of the anecdotes with which we whiled away the time. 
Major Williams, a lively old cock, was telling us that in 
old times it was the fashion to haul cotton to Petersburg 
from North Carolina in wagons. The roads were bail, and 
it, at times, took the hardest kind of swearing to “ move 
the crops.” The Major's father was an adept at starting 
a stalled team, and was often reproved by the minister for 
his profanity. On one occasion, it so happened that the 
preacher concluded to go to Petersburg with the elder 
Williams, and on the road, as usual the wagon got stuck, 
nor could it he moved, as out of deference to his rever¬ 
ence the ordinary incentives were not resorted to. All ef¬ 
forts proving fruitless, the parson, with the slightest per¬ 
ceptible twinkle in his eye, said that he would walk ahead 
for exercise, which he did, and soon got out of hearing, 
when the well known language being applied to the mules 
they awoke from their lethargy, and Bpeedily got out of 
the mud. After that the preacher never revived the sub¬ 
ject of swearing at a stalled team. The Major wound uj 
by saying that perhaps the reason he could not abandon 
profanity was, that he had too many wagons in the 
mud. 
Arrived at Richmond, we sought the best oyster sal¬ 
oon and ordered oysters as each preferred. They were 
speedily forthco mi n g , and we sat down toour feast, when 
the peculiar appearance of my oysters caused me to ex¬ 
amine them. “Gentlemen,” said I, “ I hope you don’t 
object to green gill oysters; these are green gills. I 
have been told they are harmless, though some persons 
refuse to eat them, on'the ground that they acquire the 
green gill from feeding on copperous hanks, and during 
the war it was supposed to be the result of living on dead 
soldiers." Each man dropped his fork or spoon at roy 
remark, with an exclamation of disgust. The Major had 
already eaten some of his oysters, and the expression of 
alarm and horror that overspread his countenance, was 
ludicrous in the extreme. I cannot repea t his remarks, 
in full, but it was evident that he did not limit Iris swear¬ 
ing to starting a stalled team. “Boy,” cried he, as the 
waiter entered the room, “ What's the matter with these 
oysters ? What makes ’em look so green? ” 
“ Deni’s de green gill oyster, Boss : dey’s be best- oyster 
comes here. Day gets green from eatin’ seaweed.” 
“ Seaweed be Glowed, Take them away from me ! ” 
Amid mingled expressions of sorrow and disgust we 
left those oysters, and to this day some of the party in¬ 
variably refuse oysters, as the Major feelingly remarks, 
“ Can’t help thinking of them green gills, a! Richmond,” 
Who can throw more light on the green gill? The res¬ 
taurant men say it’s a diseased oyster. Down on the 
York River the oyster men eat them, though they are 
tasteless and watery. The oystermen say they are per¬ 
fectly wholesome, but will not sell on account of preju¬ 
dice against their color. 
An Apiarian Invasion. —It is reported that recently at 
Rouen swarms of bees invaded several houses in the 
town. It seemed impossible to drive them out; and at a 
confectioner’s the bisects put the workmen to flight, 
stinging every one about the place. Attempts to rid the 
house of them by burning sulphur wore unavailing, for 
the bees retired to the upper chambers, descending again 
when the smoke ceased to be annoying. 
Singular. — A pot-hunter never gets tired of shooting 
until you give him ar-rest. 
—See Vandersmith's kennel advertisement this week. 
#4 §nt(nr^ 
THE BIRTH OF FISH CULTURE IN 
AMERICA. 
[Read before the Central Fislieultural Society.] 
BY THEODATUS GAItLICK. JI. D. 
Mr. President and Gentlemen of this Convention :— 
I have been invited to write a paper to be read before 
you, hut it is hardly necessary for me to say that X am 
quite unfit for such a task, lying as I am on a sick bed, 
and have been many years; besides this, I carry the 
eight of nearly seventy-five years. But enough by way 
of excuses. 
The discovery of artificial fecundation of fishes, was 
first announced in the National Intelligencer in 1853. I 
do not know of any modern discovery that struck me 
with such force as this did. I saw, or thought I saw, 
the most important discovery of the age, especially in 
such a country as ours j having such a vast extent of in¬ 
land water of all lands adapted to fish farming. I was 
so pleased with the discovery that I acted upon it at 
once, and selected brook trout (Salmo fontinalis) for my 
first experiments, obtaining my parent fishes from the 
Sault Ste Marie, in the month' of August of the same- 
year. I also obtained about forty trout from Port Stan¬ 
ley. On the 31st of November. 1 made my first attempt 
at artificial spawning and fertilizing the ova so procured. 
During the incubation of these eggs, I repeatedly exhib¬ 
ited them before the Cleveland Academy of Natural 
Sciences, iu a glass cell that I had prepared, contain¬ 
ing water, using a fine microscope (Smith & Beck’s). 
These exhibitions were repeated at every meeting of the 
Academy until I finally showed the members the young 
trout—a queer thing to ho called a trout, 
I was so delighted with the birth of this tiny little 
thing, that I ran my horse to town, some two miles, to 
tell my partner in surgery. Prof. Aclriy, on -whose farm 
I made my experiments. Wejbotli rushed hack to the 
farm to see this baby trout, which Was born on the 
33d of February, 1854. Tins trout has a history, a 
history such as no other fish can boast of, being undoubt¬ 
edly the first fish produced by artificial fecundation on 
the American continent. 
When I look back. I confess I am astonished at the 
magnitude to which this discovery has grown, and yet I 
had an inkling of it at the very start. 
I forgot to mention that I procured one or two thou¬ 
sand eggs from trout in Yenango County, Pa., sometime 
in October of that year, the Hon. E. D, Potter assisting 
me. Quite a number of these perished, owing, I think, to 
their being transported some distance iu wet sand. 
I exhibited trout, old and young, at two of our State 
Fairs, at Cleveland and at Cincinnati. This constitutes 
about all of my experiments in' artificial fish culture. 
The immense improvements made since my experi¬ 
ments, need no comment from me ; but I think and ex¬ 
pect farther and perhaps even greater improvements will 
be made in this branch of our industries. This Conven¬ 
tion shows clearly that you do not consider your work 
completed. Permit me, gentlemen, to make some ex¬ 
tracts from Scotland’s greatest man, Hugh Miller, not for 
the purpose of enlightening, but to encourage you ; and, I 
may add, to lighten the tax on myself in preparing this 
paper : 
“Man, in this great department of industry, is what 
none of bis predecessors upon earth ever were— 1 a fellow 
worker' with the Creator. He is a mighty improver of 
creation. We recognize that as improvement which 
adapts nature more thoroughly to man's own necessities 
and wants, and renders it more pleasing both to his 
sense of the esthetic, and to his more material senses 
also. He adds to the beauty of the flowers which lie 
takes under his charge, to the delicacy and fertility of 
the fruits; the seeds of wild grasses become com beneath 
his care ; the green herbs grow great of root or bulb, or 
bulky and succulent of top and leaf; the wild produce of 
nature sports under his hand ; the rose and lily broadeu 
their disks and multiply their petals; the harsh crab 
swells out into a delicious golden rinded apple, streaked 
with crimson ; the productions of his kitchen garden, 
metamorphosed to serve the uses of his table, hear forms 
unknown to nature ; an occult law of change and devel¬ 
opment inherent to these organisms meets in him with 
the developing instinct and ability, and they are regen¬ 
erated under his surveillance. Nor is his influence over 
many of the animals less marked. The habits which he 
imparts to the parents become nature, in his behalf, in 
their offspring. The dog acquires, under liis tutelage, 
the virtues of fidelity to a master and affection to a 
friend. The ox and horse learn to assist him in the labors 
of the fields. The udders of the cow and goat distend be 
neath his care far beyond the size necessary in the wild 
state, and supply him with rich milk, and the various 
other products of the dairy. The fleece of the sheep be¬ 
comes fine of texture and longer of fibre in his pens and 
folds ; and even the indocile silk worm spins in his 
sheltered conservatories, and among the mulberry trees 
which he has planted, a larger and brighter aud more 
glistening cocoon. Man is the great creature-worker of 
the world—its one created being that, taking up the 
work of the adorable Creator, carries it on to higher re¬ 
sults and nobler developments, and finds a field for his 
persevering ingenuity and skill in every province in 
which his Maker had expatiated before him. He is evi¬ 
dently—to adopt and modify the remark of Oken—God’s 
image manifest in the flesh. 
“The ability of accomplishing the same ends by the 
same means—in other words, of thinking and acting in 
the same practical tract — indicates a similarity, if not 
identity, of intellectual nature. As a geometrician, as an 
aritlimetician, as a chemist, as an astronomer — in short, 
in all the departments of wliat are known as the strict 
sciences—man differs from his Maker, not in kind, but in 
degree. The deputed lord of creation, availing himself 
of God’s natural laws, does what no mere animal of the 
old geologic ages ever did, or ever could have done — he 
adorns and beautifies the earth, and adds ten fold to its 
I original fertility and productiveness." 
The above extracts from Hugh Miller are undoubtedly 
true, We cannot look out of doors nor in-doors without 
seeing the proof of his statements, ft applies to fish cul¬ 
ture as well as to hundreds of thousands of other things 
that man lias accomplished. You will make further im¬ 
provements in fish culture ; among them will be hybridiz¬ 
ing. It is uow accomplished without man’s interference. 
The Salmo amethystus aud the Salmo siseowet iti Lake 
Superior—I have seen and eaten of them all, parents and 
hybrids. The parent fishes spawn at the same time, aud 
together on the same spawing beds ; but the result is, 
there are many hybrids. The hybrid is much the best 
fish. It is not necessary for me to say, that; iu order to 
breed hybrids the parent fishes must be of the same . 
genus and should spawn at the same time of the year. It 
is not long since a prominent fish culturist announced in 
a sporting journal that he had bred hybrids from the 
Scdmo fontinalis and another species of trout (I forget its 
name) found in California or among the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains. I do not remember which place. Now, the Salmo 
fontinalis spawns in the fall of the year, October aud 
November, and this California trout spawns iu the month 
of March, so said this person who accomplished this won¬ 
derful feat in fish culture, there beiugfive or six months 
difference in their time of spawing. 
How lie accomplished this feat, I do not knpw. unless 
he adopted Rev. Dr. John Bachman’s plan, that of drying 
the eggs of the perch for ten days, from which lie ob¬ 
tained a considerable number of young perch. I have 
not the least doubt that eggs that have dried for ton 
lays would be as sure to hatch iu five or six mouths, or 
wen five or six years. Sudh statements are pernicious 
as they tend to lead beginners astray. 
Mr. President and gentlemen of the Convention, yon 
have this to encourage you; the Creator has endowed you 
with faculties that tit you for this work, which enables 
you to be co-workers with Him; you avail yourselves of 
His laws. 
I most heartily wish you success, and a Bafe return to 
your homes. 
Bedford, 0„ Se.pt. 32d, 
THE FRENCH FISH CULTURE INQUIRY, 
THE French Senate appointed last July a Commission 
1 of Inquiry to investigate the condition of the fish¬ 
eries of the inland and coast waters, and the progress of 
fish culture. This Commission has proceeded to the se¬ 
curing of the information by sending out the following 
series of questions, the answers to which are intended to 
serve as a nucleus for the information to be obtained 
hereafter. The form of the inquiry is such as might be 
be followed with success by our own State Commis¬ 
sions. Wo have thought these questions of sufficient 
interest to be printed entire: 
FRESH WATERS. 
I. Statistics.— 1. What is the present condition of the 
streams, rivers, and likes, considered in reference to the 
production ol’ fish? 3. What are the species of fi shoe- 
ourrmg in the waters of your neighborhood? 8 Are 
these ponds m the region ? and what is the mode of c t- 
lure? Wliat is their product? 4. What is the quantity 
offish on sale in the markets of yon r district? What 
species of fish are represented? What is 1,1m be 
amount, and the price per ldlo.? Wliat species of fish 
formerly existing, have disappeared or diminished ' 
6. Are the streams and rivers frequented by andromous 
fish, lampreys, salmon, shad, eels, etc. ? What- wTm£ 
courses are more particularly stocked with crawfish ’ 
7. Are t.lie dams provided with fish-ways? and do 
allow free passage for the ascent of the fish ? 8 Whit is 
the tenure of the non-navigable streams'? Are they 
leased? 9. Are the regulations, in reference to close 
time and the restocking ot waters, carried out bvthe 
lessees ? Are the close times believed to he long cnuteri’ 
and what are the results? 10. Are there in the 
meat fish cultural establishments, the inauguration c r 
whidi is either due to the State or private individuals? 
11 Have there been m he region attempts to restock the 
waters? What were the results. II. Causes or H 
stuuction -13. Wliat are, generally speaking, theses 
to which the depopulation of the waters in your « 
are attributed? Do special causes exist in certain locali 
tes ? In what streams has a mortality among tlie craw 
fish been noticed and to what cause as it been attribu 
ted? alterations of the waters ; parasites affixedL 
brancliiu etc. 13 In what streams have the the wjf 
tions, m the height of the water, caused by opening an 1 
closing the sluiceways and floodgates of dams beau con 
sidered a cause of destruction of the fry. 14. What is 
the effect of steamboat navigation in • 
the waters, and destruction of spawning 
fishes he mentioned as destvovlrs ot n v “ y 
fish. 15 What are the places where the P w as t e prSte 
• AlU V V , hiU is th tiature of this refuse? 
wliat watei -course, lakes, autl ponds is 
tion by the effect of flax stooping Sot'her i 
pursuits complained of ? 16. What are the drawbacks 
resulting from the dredging of streams, the raising of 
banks and the removal of grass ? What observations 
have been made upon the function of vegetation m 
maintaining fertility of the waters? 17. Is there in! 
complaint made of tlie destruction of fish aud crawfish 
by the agency ot factories and the temporary drying of 
mill-races? What are the precautions taken tor the Res¬ 
ervation of fish where irrigating canals exist? iy. P Are 
the waters sufficiently guarded from a fishery poiuttf 
view? What are the agents charged with thisd,,V l 
What is the surface extent in the Jakes riveikn^^ ? 
and brooks? Is any complaintm d^f w" S ' 
pervision? 19. What are 1 the 
poaching practised m your region (changing the cuV 
rent employment of chalk, coeculm' indiimf uTolimr 
hurtful substances, dynamite, etc.)? Wliat are the fish¬ 
ing implements considered the most hurtful t Are drag 
nets used? Do dams and fixed nets exist? Ill EiS. 
ING.— ~0. What are the means indicated ami asked in 
the region to remedy the depopulation of tlie waters? 
21 Inchoate the places in the streams, canals, ponds! etc 
rimm^Tr tllCmostfavorable **establishment of 
hatching stations or reservations for restookiug ’ to tlia 
different water-courses, where dams exist, what are the 
T r ap P ( y s “pessary to establish fish lad- 
ders? Indicate the periods of reproduction of each 
