SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
365 
been enabled to discover the cause and enact wiser laws afford a large catalogue. Among the best are the Crevalle 
lor the prevention of the growing evil. Filiy years n^o.UBnlhrolccviusjfanipanns'). Two species of Whiting (<7w- 
these fine fish were caught with the seine by thousands, I hrinvs liUoralis et Ufdburnus). We recollect havin'g been 
re niile.s above vV aterford, the head of iiavigaiion. j invited by a friend in Xew York to acf 
four or fiv 
We frequently saw them sold at one dollar per Itundred. 
Their spawning grounds were at the feet of the various 
falls of the large streams that constituted the sources ol 
the river. We several times witnessed the process ol 
spawning at the foot of the floosac Falls. Ihe iiliad liad 
crowded together to the nwinljer ol many thousatids in an 
immense basin whose waters were in some places twenty 
ompany him to one 
of their famous restorateurs, to join him in a plate of the 
most delicious fish that came to their markets, called, by 
way of distinction, the King fish. He proved himself an 
epicure. It was, however, our Carolina Whiting. The 
Drum {Pagnuias r.krcm 'n'). The Sheep- head oxis). 
The Sailors’ Choice {Lariuias fasciafus). Tire Croker 
{Micropogon undulaivs). The Yellow Tail {Hnnoprion 
feet deep, where the sides of the rocks were covered with The Black Fish; Sea Bass: Rock Fish- 
foam and the atmosphere was filled with the spray of the the Mullet, and many others: some fine flavored fishes 
rushing torrent. The waters seemed swelling with the ' are also brought to us alive from the Florida coast, 
constant wheeling and turning of these fishes. They i Having given a glance at the saltwater fishes, let U£ 
slapped the w-ater wutli their tails and appeared, by violent j direct our attention to those that may with a ^rea"^ 
muscular actions, to be engaged in disincumbenng tli^tni- 1 probability of success, be multiplied in a fresh water fish- 
selves of their spawn Ihey were so much occupied in | p^nd. We will here enter a little into a detad of our p^r- 
their own work that they were regardless of the presence j 30 ^^! experience-our disappointments, with some Ld 
of man, and ran heedlessly into scoop nets which secured , success with other species-in order that others may 
them at the rate of an hundred in an hour. xMen standing | against our mistakes and consequent disappoint- 
011 the rocks were securing them with their spears, and ^ ^ents, and improve on and profit by 
an Indian boy was shooting his barbed arrow at random I t., 11 . 1 .. ^ 
boy 
into the water and brought them out with a line which 
was attached to the arrow. Thus, whilst the work of 
multiplication was progressing that of destruction was not 
our successes. 
In 1604, whilst yet a school boy, we applied to and ob- 
tained the ready consent of an indulgent father to con- 
! Struct a fish-pond agreeable to our own imperfect notions 
idrr 'Tftw weeks ™ ^.s subjec. Ti. was .e„ ndles above Troy, 
might be seen floating down the '‘’p \ River'. “ "veYartwoVb^cl's in%iew,'Yfe.‘ wh“hX" 
appeiired quite reasonable, was that of having always at 
hand a supply of fresh fish for the table; the other, and 
others with attenuated bodies and disproporiioned heads 
ready to die, from the e.xhausting process of spawning. 
A writer in the Sew York Times says, “whereas it used 
to be a common thing to draw ICOO Shad at a haul, the 
fisherman now gets sometimes one or two fish in his net.” 
No wonder! They have shut out the Shad from their 
breeding places above. Where no spawn is deposited 
there can be no fish. The dam below Waterford was 
which we did not much speak of, was an irrepressible de- 
sire to study the habits of the finny tribes. We were not 
then aware that any book had been written on fishes. A 
never failing brook ran near our residence, the waters of 
which had been appropriated to no other purpose than 
that of sometimes turnin' 
thrown across the river and a miserably constructed apron | stream, but less cold than other streams in the neighbor- 
-iirao thn \i 7 Prp> to ncppnH T'hp invpntnrc i 11*1 • ii ^ ^ — o 
was erected where the fish were to ascend. The inventors 
of this contrivance seemed to think that the Shad would 
j hood, which contained the Brook, or Speckled Trout. By 
I the aid of two of our father’s negroes, a dam was thrown 
mount a water-fall as the Salmon leaps up a cataract, i across the valley of about forty yards in extent It was at 
The Shad is now no longer sought after above the dams j first constructed with the cheapest materials— slabs and a 
and other obstructions to ascent, and is accordingly di 
The fact that the Perch and other fishes are diminishing 
in the same proportion in that, now, great river of steam- 
boats and commerce, the Hudson, may, we think, be 
easily accounted for. Their spawning beds are situated 
on the long line of shallows, called “flats,” that exist, a 
little removed from the channel, between Dutchess county 
. broad bank of earth. We candidly admit that we can 
give no instructions in the mysteries of dam building, 
j Suffice it to say, it was the most perplexing job we ever 
undertook. The slightest crevice in the bank, no larger 
j than a goose quill, would, in a night, increase to the thick- 
I ness of an arm, and presently out rushed the water through 
a ready made sluice of the size of a hogshead. Patience, 
^ . . . • i however, and a little more experience, finally surmounted 
and Albany. There, in their quiet waters, covered with | every difficulty, and our dam never gave us much trouble 
the broad leaves of floating plants, they, in the peaceful j afterwards. The water, in a few weeks, filled the pond to 
days of the Knickerbockers, multiplied unmolested. It we | overflowing. It was seven or eight feet deep in the chan- 
now take our stand on the shore we will hear the puff of ^el, gradunfly shallowing to the shores, and covered about 
one steamer after another hurrying past each other m | three acres. The sluice way, or mouth of the dam throu-h 
every direction. The boat passes and is nearly out of sight ) ^hich the waters escaped, was near the surface, with a 
when the water becomes agitated at your feet and wave ^ gate 8 feet wide, with brass wires, perpendicularly insert- 
after wave, that had been lilted up by the paddles of the | ed, 4 to the inch. 'J'he ^ides and upper end of the pond 
steamer, comes bounding on the shores, disturbing the , ..-ere planted with water grasses- Arrow Heads ILa-ut- 
beds and covering up with the mud ofa constantly agitat- j i^rca), the Yellow Water Lilly {Nuphar kaimiana), "and 
ed river, the spawn of the Perch 
In our Southern States the fishes that, run from the sea 
to the rivers for the purpose of spawning are not numer- 
I o her acquatic plants, such as grew, in the neighborino- 
I mill ponds. At long intervals during that and thelbllow- 
g year, as the laborers found leisure time, a broad bank 
ous. The Shad, the Hock fish, called the Striped Bass at 1 was thrown up on the sides, planted with willows and 
the North, {Labrace lineahis), x.\-\c Sturgeon (Acfpcii- j other trees, affording a shade lor the fish, a quiet retreat 
ser') are the pricipal ones. Our Southern Sea Bass {Cur- j for the student and a pleasant green bank for the seat of 
vina ocellala), a highly esteemed fish, is found acending | ilie angler. Two pair of domesticated Summer Ducks and 
our rivers, not only in brackish, but oftentimes in fresh | a pair of Canada Geese, the outer joint of the win<» of each 
VV o ntaxm ir\ tlio tircifovo /%f nnr» ♦ 1 v .-v L. ! . i . 
waters. We have, in the w-aters of our Souihern sea- 
board, an abundance of fine fish, but we have not a suf- 
ficient number of fishermen, nor do they possess all the 
improvements in nets, or the skill of European fishermen. 
VVe have no .space to enumerate the species; they would 
having been removed, were the only birds allowed to 
navigate the waters. 
We now commenced stocking our pond with the ma- 
terials thatw'ere within reach. Our first tflbrt was quite 
successful. The waters of a mill-pond, a couple of miles 
''•k 
