334 Wisconsin state agricultural society . 
west by the great river , traversed by numerous fine and rapid 
streams, and sprinkled all over by beautiful and picturesque lakes; 
with physical conditions certainly the most favorable, perhaps, of 
any state for an abundant and never-failing supply of the best of fish 
providing the state secure the advantages of artificial propagation. 
In the summer of 1859, Prof. S. F. Ward, of the Smithsonian In- 
(titute at Washington, and now U. S. Fish Commissioner, Prof. 
J. P. Kirtland of Cleveland, and myself, armed with all sorts of 
nets, spent nearly a month traveling over the state, capturing fish. 
Governor Farwell stopped his mill at Madison, and let the water 
run down that we could the better study the fish in the outlet of 
Lake Mendota. Recently, Prof. Baird said to me, “ why don’t 
Wisconsin appoint a fish commissioner ; those beautiful lakes that 
jewel the state all over, should be made to produce something bet¬ 
ter than those fish we found in them.” “I will promise to come 
and look over the ground and consult you about the best fish to 
be introduced in each case.” 
The advantages to be secured by employing a competent com¬ 
missioner of fish would be great, in return for the trifling cost. 
Most of our eastern states have employed a commissioner of fish, 
and what has been the result ? For many years shad were so 
scarce in the Hudson river that they commanded from fifty cents 
to one dollar a piece; during the past season they retailed for 
fifteen cents , and thousands of families that were not able formerly 
to indulge in such a luxury, now have an abundance. The results 
in the Connecticut and other streams is quite as gratifying. 
The members of the present legislature were elected by the 
people for economical purposes ; good reasons, certainly, provid¬ 
ing former legislatures have been extravagant. Economy consists 
in husbanding the resources of the state, and expending only 
where the best interests would be secured. If the expending of 
one dollar will secure results worth two dollars, it would certainly 
be economy to invest the dollar. A competent, energetic fish 
commissioner for the state would return in benefits more than a 
hundred fold. Wisconsin cannot afford to neglect interests of 
such importance as the cultivation of fish. There is no longer 
any uncertainty about it Fish can be raised with the same cer¬ 
tainty as grain or stock. One acre of water can be made to pro- 
