A few days ago, at Bougival, a short distance below the dam of the
Marly machine, there were put into water 40,000 fry of California
trout and salmon, designed to restock the Seine, which, in this
region, has been depopulated by the explosions of dynamite which last
winter effected the breaking up of the ice jam that formed at this
place.
[Illustration: RESTOCKING THE SEINE WITH FISH.]
The operation, which is quite simple in itself, attracted a large
number of inquisitive people by reason of the exceptional publicity
given to the conflict provoked by a government engineer, who, under
the pretext that he had not been consulted, made objections to the
submersion of the little fish. As well known, the affair was
terminated by a sharp reprimand from Mr. Yves Guyot, addressed to his
overzealous subordinate.
It would have been a great pity, moreover, if this interesting
experiment had not taken place, and had not come to corroborate the
favorable results already obtained.
In three years the California salmon reaches a weight of eleven
pounds, and, from this time, is capable of reproduction. Its flesh is
delicious, and comparable to that of the trout, the development of
which is less rapid, but just as sure.
The fry put into the water on Sunday were but two months old. The
trout were, on an average, one and a half inches in length, and the
salmon two and three-quarter inches. They were transported in three
iron plate vessels, weighing altogether, inclusive of the water, 770
lb., and provided with air tubes through which, during the voyage, the
employes, by means of pumps, assured the respiration of the little
fish.
Our engraving represents the submersion at the moment at which
the cylinders (of which the temperature has just been taken and
compared with that of the Seine, in order to prevent too abrupt a
transition for the fry) are being carefully let down into the
river.--_L'Illustration_.
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Figures show that the consumption of iron in general
construction--other than railroads--in this country has grown from a
little more than a million and a half of tons in 1879 to more than six
million tons in 1889. Much of this increase has gone into iron
buildings. By using huge iron frames and thin curtain walls for each
story supported thereon, as is done in a building going up on lower
Broadway, New York city, a good deal of space can be saved.
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