394 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
FISH CULTURE. 
BY SETH GREEN, ROCHESTER, NEW YORK. 
[From the last report of the Department of Agriculture.] 
BROOK TROUT.* 
In this paper we shall speak briefly of improvements made 
during the past year, of the increase and present aspects of the 
business, and give some hints for general information. 
No very great or startling discoveries have been made lately in 
the science of fish culture. Still there has been a steady advance 
in the practice of the art. New methods have been discovered of 
applying known facts; economy of time and labor have been 
well considered, and much has been done toward lifting the 
science from the region of experiment into that of a paying busi¬ 
ness. The discovery most talked about has been that of the so- 
ealled dry impregnation, said to have been discovered by a Russ¬ 
ian gentleman, and brought to the knowledge of pisciculturists in 
this country by Mr. George Shepard Page, of New York. The 
story of the discovery is as follows: The Russian gentleman 
having attempted many times to impregnate his eggs in the usual 
way known to Russian gentlemen, failed in that way to impregnate 
more than a very small percentage. Having made numerous 
experiments with a view to a better result, he arrived substantially 
at the following conclusions: 
First. That immediately upon its exudation into water, the egg 
being then in a flabbystate, commenced to absorb water, and with 
it melt, if present; and that the egg retains its power of absorp¬ 
tion of the water and melt (and consequent impregnation) for a 
period of about fifteen to twenty-five minutes after exudation 
from the fish, the tendency toward impregnation being strongest 
when the egg is first exposed, and weakest toward the end of the 
period. 
* The section on tront culture is written in conjunction with A. S. Collins, my former part¬ 
ner aud successor at Caledonia, New York. 
