278 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



THE NEW MODE OF BBEEDING FISH. 



Connected with the agkiculture of 

 this country, and equally interesting to the 

 rural improver, are the wonderful discoveries 

 lately brought to bear on the artificial pro 



their streams, began to collect the spawn and 

 apply the milt themselves. These they de- 

 posited in boxes or baskets full of holes, and 

 placed them in situations of safety in running 

 streams. A French paper says, " Applying 

 this operation, the year afterwards, to a great 



duction of fish in our rivers. The whole sub- number of fish, they obtained several thousand 



ject seems to open out a new source of profit 

 to the speculator, of interest to the natura- 

 list, and to tend to the increase of the nation's 

 food. The capture of salmon — brought now 

 to perfection so great that our rivers are 

 nearly stripped of that king of fishes — ceases 

 to be either skilful or surprising before the 

 schemes in operation for continuing the race. 

 Not only has the new principle been tested 

 by the stocking of the French rivers and 

 streams of the Vosges, the Moselle, the 

 Upper and Lower Rhine, but the spawn has 

 been successfully transported to New Zealand. 

 A recent number of the Journal of the 

 Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland 

 attributes the discovery of the plan to Mr. 

 John Shaw, of Drumlanrig, so far back as 

 1833, and further proved by the Rev. D. 

 S. Williamson, ten years afterwards. But 

 the scientific world seems to have been still 

 earlier at work ; for, in 1764. Professor Jacobi, 

 of Berlin, discovered that the roe of fish was 

 fecundated after ejection by the female. More- 

 over, that the roe and milt extracted even 

 from dead fishes possessed the vital power, 

 and that even when dead two or three days, 

 this power is not lost. The Professor also 

 mentions how fish may be thus introduced 

 into new districts, and even carried to other 

 countries. 



During the course of last summer, a small 

 pamphlet, on the artificial production offish, 

 was published by Reeve and Co., which called 

 particular attention to the French adoption 

 of the discoveries of the German professor 

 and the Scottish gardener, in filling the 

 French streams and rivers with millions of 

 fish of the most valuable kind. 



Last year, fecimdated trout spawn was 

 conveyed to New Zealand. Gravel was 

 placed in large iron boxes, with a supply of 

 river water, in order to effect the necessary 

 changes ; for in water totally stagnant the fish 

 cannot be raised. Owing to the warmth of 

 the tropical atmosphere in the journey, the 

 young were produced before the ordinary 

 time. The usual period varies from 70 to 

 100 days, according to temperature ; but in 

 this case they appeared in about 42 days. 

 The effect of a stream was obtained by con- 

 stant dropping from a tank above the iron 

 box ; the water in which was, we believe, 

 purified by the valisneria. 



The originators of the French practice, as 

 we stated in our Second Volume, were two 

 fishermen of the names of Gehin and Remy, 

 of La Bresse ; who, finding the fish fail in 



trout ; and, in a year or two more, the num- 

 bers had literally increased to millions." 



The French government considering the 

 matter of much importance, these two fisher- 

 men were taken into its pay, and made to 

 apply the principle to the streams of the dis- 

 tricts we have mentioned. The same paper 

 remarks, " They have done so with the 

 most singular success ; rivers and lakes, in 

 which there were no fish, now literally teem 

 with them. 1 ' 



The plan is to be further encouraged. A 

 commission of savans is appointed to superin- 

 tend the process. Salmon, perch, tench, and 

 even lobsters are to be domesticated — so far 

 at least as being bred and reared, out of the 

 reach of their numerous enemies. 



Perhaps no animal will multiply so fast as 

 fish. The tench produces 38,000 eggs, the 

 mackerel 546,000, the cod fish 1,357,000. 

 The herring produces also vast numbers, and 

 if only 2,000 of any one of these came to 

 perfection, there would be, in the second year, 

 12,000,000, in the third 2,000,000,000. To 

 protect only, therefore, is to ensure the pro- 

 duction of millions of fishes ; but how any 

 fish now happens to escape their enemies, 

 natural and artificial, seems even more won- 

 derful than their powers of production. 



The breeders of fish artificially in this 

 country are, Mr. Gurney, of Carshalton, and 

 Mr. Young, of Lochshin ; but what should 

 hinder the plan being tried by the landed 

 proprietors near the sides of all the rivers in 

 this and the sister kingdom ? and why not 

 try to introduce the salmon into rivers where 

 it has not yet been found ? 



Mr. Shaw appears to have been the first to 

 show that the parr and the smoult are only 

 stages of the salmon ; and to prove that by 

 the construction of side ponds, with a small 

 stream running over them, with sufficient 

 water to keep them covered (but not too 

 deep) so as to favor the development of the 

 spawn with as much rapidity as possible, the 

 desired end can be accomplished. The small 

 fish will thus be preserved from their larger 

 enemies until they have an opportunity of 

 shifting better for themselves ; and vast sup- 

 plies will be afforded to the sea, to return 

 again, either to the same spot, or most cer- 

 tainly to the same river, in another year. 



The grisle, or young salmon of from 2£ to 

 31bs. weight, has been sent to market, the 

 spawn from which they have come having 

 only been deposited in the preceding Octo- 

 ber or November, three months of this to be 



