Practical papers—fish Culture. 
3 S 7 
France, appreciating its importance, constructed a breeding es¬ 
tablishment, and appointed a commissioner of fisheries, ranking 
with the commissioner of agriculture, as early as 1852, and by this 
means re-stocked her barren streams, and by the fortunes of war, 
this establishment fell into the hands of the Prussians, who are now 
using it to replenish their waters. 
Nearly all of the eastern states have commissioners of fisheries, 
and are giving every encouragement to their protection and pro¬ 
duction. New York has built a hatching establishment under the 
care of three commissioners ; this and the hatching of shad, which 
has to be done on the banks of the streams, with a general super¬ 
vision of the fisheries, cost the state about twelve thousand dol¬ 
lars a year. 
Now I doubt not many will think me wild, but I make the as¬ 
sertion, with the full belief that the future will demonstrate its 
truthfulness, that these commissioners, at this nominal expense, 
will produce more food than all the beef and pork raisers in the 
state. 
As an illustration of how fast fish food can be produced, the 
artificial hatching of shad was commenced in the Connecticut 
river in 1867, and in 1870, the catch was the largest they have 
had for seventy years, and sixty million were artificially hatched 
that year at Hadley Falls, alone. In 1871, they were so abundant 
as to reduce the wholesale prices from eighteen to three dollars a 
hundred. 
Salmon and shad have recently been transplanted into rivers 
where they before were strangers, and seem to be as much attached 
to their new homes as their parents were to theirs. 
These are fish that leave home when mere striplings, and return 
with certainty to their place of birth, the former laden with 
twenty to thirty pounds, the latter with five to eight pounds of 
the choicest meat. 
Although these fish are anadromous in their habits, and Wis¬ 
consin is a long way from the ocean, yet as they are very active, 
hardy, and intent upon depositing their spawn where they them¬ 
selves were born, it is believed by those who are better acquainted 
with them than myself, that if once planted in our waters, they 
would make their annual return. Or it is possible that our lakes 
