96 
THE CALIFORNIAN SALMON. 
In China, live fish, are carried to market on barges and 
boats, down the rivers and canals, in tanks into which a 
constant shower of water is allowed to fall, from a bamboo 
pierced with holes, and connected with another tank, 
which is replenished from time to time. The water, by 
being brought into contact with the air, gets aerated, and 
so keeps the fish supplied with oxygen, and in a healthy 
state. An eye witness was surprised to find, that after the 
great care that was taken of the fish on the journey, when 
they reached their destination they were taken out of the 
water, and pitched into a boat in the most careless way, to 
be carried off to the market for sale. 
The great secret of success in transporting live fish safely, 
is to keep the temperature of the water in which they are 
carried, at the same temperature to which they have been 
accustomed, by using ice if necessary ; and to have the 
water constantly and thoroughly crated, by forcing air 
into it with bellows and an indiarubber tube. For all 
the varieties of salmon and trout, a low temperature in 
transit is much safer than a comparatively high one. At 
50 deg. to 55 deg. the risk is little, if other important 
matters be carefully attended to. In the winter season, 
and with small numbers, it is comparatively easy to trans- 
port them to any reasonable distance, but in summer the 
risk is enormously increased. 
The plan that I adopted with great success, was to put 
the fish in cans, resembling the milk cans used by dairymen 
for carrying their milk. A perforated lid, besides the 
cover, was used to prevent the fish from being carried out 
with the current, when changing the water; and the 
cans could be placed under a tap, or stream, if necessary, 
during the journey, without the fish being able to get away. 
The cover was also perforated, to give a free supply of air. 
In the transit of fish, as already stated, the most important 
