than a thousand years ago. The ingenious Chinese people had discovered
the philosophy which underlies fish-culture, as well as the best modes
of increasing their supplies of fish, long before any European nation
had dreamt of taking action in the matter. A few years ago, a party
of fisher-folks from the Celestial Empire, on a visit to Europe, were
exceedingly astonished at the prices they had to pay for the fish they
were so fond of eating. They explained that in China any person might
purchase for a very small sum as much as might serve a family for a
week’s food. They also mentioned that some fishes which we reject,
such as the octopus, were much esteemed by the Chinese, who cooked
them carefully, and partook of them with great relish. The capture
of the octopus, indeed, forms one of the chief fishing industries of
China, these sea-monsters being taken in enormous numbers at some of
the Chinese fishing stations, notably at Swatow. They are preserved
by being dried in the sun; and then, after being packed in tubs, they
are distributed to the consuming centres of the country. In the inland
districts of China there are also to be found numerous fishponds, where
supplies of the more popular sorts of fish are kept, and fed for the
market. These are grown from ova generally bought from dealers, who
procure supplies of eggs from some of the large rivers of the country.
The infant fish, it may be mentioned, are as carefully tended and fed
as if they were a flock of turkeys in the yard of a Norfolk farmer.
In the opinion of the Chinese fishermen, who were interviewed by the
industrious Frank Buckland, hundreds of thousands of fish annually die
of starvation; and if means could be adopted for the feeding of tender
fry, fish of all kinds would become more plentiful than at present, and
we would obtain them at a cheaper rate. In China, the yolks of hens’
eggs are thrown into the rivers and ponds, that kind of food being
greedily devoured by the young fish.
It has long been known to those interested in the economy of our
fisheries, that only a very small percentage of the ova of our chief
food-fishes comes to maturity, while of the fish actually hatched,
a very small percentage reaches our tables for food-uses; hence
the desire which has arisen to augment the supplies by means of
pisciculture. In the case of a fish like the salmon, every individual
of that species (_Salmo salar_) which can be brought to market is
certain, even when prices are low, of a ready sale at something like
a shilling per pound-weight; and it is not, therefore, to be wondered
at that the proprietor of a stretch of salmon-water should be zealous
about the increase of his stock of fish. A quarter of a century since,
the salmon-fishery owners of the river Tay in Scotland, impressed with
the possibilities of pisciculture, had a suite of salmon-nurseries
constructed at Stormontfield, where they have annually hatched a
very large number of eggs, and where they feed and protect the young
fish till they are ready to migrate to the sea, able to fight their
own battle of life. This may be said to be the earliest and longest
sustained piscicultural effort of a commercial kind made in Great
Britain, an example which was followed on other rivers. The chief
salmon-fisheries of Scotland being held as private property, are, of
course, more favourably situated, in regard to fish-culture, than
salmon-fisheries which are open to the public, and which, in a sense,
are the property of no person in particular. These latter must be left
in the hands of mother Nature. The salmon, however, being an animal of
great commercial value, is so coveted at all seasons of the year, both
by persons who have a legal right to such property, and by persons who
have no right, that such fisheries have a tendency to become barren of
breeding-stock; for although each female yields on the average as many
as twenty thousand eggs, extremely few of these ever reach maturity;
hence, it has come about that many proprietors are resorting to the
piscicultural process of increasing their supplies.
But the chief feature of the pisciculture of the period is that
‘fisheries’ are now being worked quite independently of any particular
river. There is, for example, the Howietoun fishery, near Stirling,
which has been ‘invented,’ as we may say, by that piscatorial giant,
Sir James Gibson-Maitland. From this establishment, the eggs of
fish, particularly trout, and more especially Loch Leven trout, are
annually distributed in hundreds of thousands. From Howietoun, and from
some other places as well, gentlemen can stock their ponds or other
ornamental water with fecundated ova in a certain state of forwardness;
or they can procure, for a definite sum of money, fish of all ages
from tiny fry to active yearlings, or well grown two-year olds!
Sporting-waters which have been overfished can be easily replenished by
procuring a few thousand eggs or yearlings; while angling clubs which
rent a loch or important stream can, at a very small cost, keep up the
supplies, whether of trout or salmon. In the course of the last three
summers, several Scottish lakes have had their fish-stores replenished
by means of drafts on the piscicultural bank, which is always open at
the Howietoun ‘fishery.’ The distance to which ova or tender young fish
require to be transported offers no obstacle to this new development of
fish-commerce; thousands of infantile fish were brought from Russia to
Edinburgh with perfect safety on the occasion of the Fishery Exhibition
held in that city. The loss in transit was not more, we believe, than
two per cent.
It may prove interesting to state the prices which are charged usually
for ova and young fish. A sample lot of eyed ova of the American brook
trout, to the extent of one thousand, may be obtained for thirty
shillings; and for ten shillings less, a thousand eggs of the Loch
Leven trout, or the common trout of the country, may be purchased. For
stock supplies, a box containing fifteen thousand partially eyed ova
of _S. fontinalis_ (American) may be had for ten pounds. The other
varieties mentioned are cheaper by fifty shillings for the same number.
Fry of the same, in lots of not fewer than five thousand, range from
seven pounds ten shillings to five pounds. Yearlings are of course
dearer, and cost from fifteen and ten pounds respectively per thousand.
Ten millions of trout ova are now hatched every year at the Howietoun
fishery.
The fecundity of all kinds of fish is enormous. A very small trout will
be found to contain one thousand eggs; a female salmon will yield on
the average eight hundred ova for each pound of her weight; and if even
a fifth part of the eggs of our food-fishes were destined to arrive at
maturity, there would be no necessity for resorting to pisciculture
in order to augment our fish commissariat. But even in America, where
most kinds of fish were at one period almost over-abundant, artificial
breeding is now necessary in order to keep up the supplies. In the
United States, fish-culture has been resorted to on a gigantic scale,
not only as regards the salmon, but also in connection with various
sea-fishes, many hundred millions of eggs of which are annually
collected and hatched; the young fry being forwarded to waters which
require to be restocked. Apparatus of a proper description for the
hatching of sea-fish has been constructed, and is found to work
admirably. Some of these inventions were shown last year in the
American department of the International Fishery Exhibition, where
they were much admired by persons who feel interested in the proper
development of our fishery resources. In the United States, the art
of pisciculture has been studied with rare patience and industry, the
fish-breeders thinking it no out-of-the-way feat to transplant three
or four millions of young salmon in the course of a season. In dealing
with the shad, the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries have
been able to distribute the young of that fish by tens of millions per
annum; the loss in the hatching of eggs and in the transmission of the
animal being very small.
Some writers and lecturers on the natural and economic history of our
food-fishes have asserted that no possible demand can lead to their
extermination or to any permanent falling-off in the supplies; but the
economy of the American fisheries tends to disprove that theory. In
the seas which surround the United States, certain fishes would soon
become very scarce, were the supplies not augmented each season by
the aid of the pisciculturists. The fruitfulness of the cod is really
wonderful, individuals of that family having been taken with from five
to nine millions of eggs in their ovaries. The fecundity of the common
herring, too, has often proved a theme of wonder. That an animal only
weighing a few ounces should be able to perpetuate its kind at the rate
of thirty thousand, is indeed remarkable. But fruitful in reproductive
power as these and other fishes undoubtedly are, it has been prophesied
by cautious writers, that by over-fishing, the supplies may in time
become so exhausted as to require the aid of the pisciculturist. If
so, we believe the mode of action which has been found to work so well
in the American seas will be the best to follow. No plan of inclosed
sea-ponds, however large they might be, will meet the case; the
fish-eggs will require to be hatched in floating cylinders specially
constructed for the purpose, so as to admit of the eggs being always
under the influence of the sea-water, and at the same time exposed to
the eye of skilled watchers. It is believed by persons well qualified
to judge, that the eggs of our more valuable sea-fishes may in the way
indicated be dealt with in almost incredible numbers. We have only to
remember that twenty females of the cod family will yield at least one
hundred millions of eggs, to see that the possibilities of pisciculture
might extend far beyond anything indicated in the foregoing remarks.
In resuscitating their exhausted oyster-beds, the French people have
during the last twenty years worked wonders; they have been able to
reproduce that favourite shell-fish year after year in quantities
that would appear fabulous if they could be enumerated in figures.
Pisciculture was understood in France long before it was thought of
as a means of aiding natural production in America; but our children
of the States—to use a favourite phrase of their own—now ‘lick all
creation’ in the ways and means of replenishing river and sea with
their finny denizens.
A PLEA FOR THE WATER-OUSEL.
In a paper which appeared in this _Journal_, in June 1883, on the
Salmon, a few words were said in defence of the water-ousel against
a _fama_ which had found vent in newspaper correspondence, accusing
that most interesting bird of destroying salmon spawn. An English
gentleman, after reading those remarks, has written to us, giving a sad
illustration of misdirected zeal, which had arisen from the reading of
such newspaper letters.
During the previous winter, he was one of a party that spent a few
days on the banks of a favourite salmon river in Wales. The party were
all enthusiastic anglers; and, fired by the recent outcry against the
ousel, they made a raid upon these birds, killing thirty in one day.
Like the ‘Jeddart justices’ of old, the party then proceeded to convict
the slain; when, lo! on examination by one of their number—a well-known
English analyst—not a grain of salmon roe could be found in all the
thirty crops examined, though it was then the height of the salmon
spawning season. Like Llewelyn, after slaying Gelert, they had time to
repent, ‘For now the truth was clear.’ They had slain the innocent,
which feed upon insects that prey on salmon ova. They had therefore
killed one of the salmon’s best protectors.
No better instance could be adduced of the caution with which popular
theories in natural history should be received. But besides branding
the innocent little ousel as a salmon-destroyer, some writers went so
far as to assert that the bird had no song, and was not worth listening
to. The best observers fortunately have defended the bird against the
charge of being songless; and in respect to its alleged crime of eating
salmon-roe, the evidence above given is surely conclusive in favour of
its innocence.
The water-ousel is one of our most unique birds. It is a wader and a
diver, and though not web-footed, by using its wings it can propel
itself under water. Its habits are always a delightful study to the
observer. The domed nest, with its snow-white eggs, is a wonderful
structure; and there is a fascination in watching the bird tripping
in and out of the water in pursuit of its food, popping overhead ever
and again, and reappearing for a moment, only to dive and reappear
elsewhere. When rivers are largely frozen over, it is interesting to
see how boldly the little bird dives from the edge of an ice-sheet
into a stream two feet or more in depth, how long it can remain under
water, and how often it rises to breathe and dive again without leaving
the stream. The singing of the water-ousel is low, but remarkably
sweet, and long-continued in the winter-time of the year, when no other
bird but the redbreast is heard; and when trilled out, as the notes
frequently are in the clear frosty air, as the bird sits perched on a
rocky projection, or takes its rapid flight up or down the stream,
they sound clear and melodious.
THE WATER-OUSEL’S SONG.
Whitter! whitter! where the water
Leaps among the rocks,
And the din of the linn
Swelling thunder mocks,
Cheerily and merrily
I sing my roundelay,
Whitter! whitter! bright or bitter
Be the winter day!
Whitter! whitter! down the water
Speeding with the stream,
Snow around wraps the ground
In a silent dream!
Wood and hill, all are still,
Birds as mute as clay,
Whitter! whitter! what is fitter
For a winter day?
Whitter! whitter! in the water
Busily I ply;
Ice and snow come and go,
Nought a care have I.
Mountain waters flee their fetters,
So I feed and play,
Whitter! whitter! pitter! pitter!
All the winter day.
Whitter! whitter! o’er the water
Still and smooth and deep,
Round the pool, clear and cool,
Where the shadows sleep,
Snowy breast, shadow-kissed,
Whirring on its way,
Whitter! whitter! titter! titter!
Ho! the winter day!
Whitter! whitter! through the water,
By the miller’s wheel,
Where the strong water’s song
Rings a merry peal;
Wet or dry, what care I,
Sporting in the spray?
Whitter! whitter! twitter! twitter!
Flies the winter day.
Whitter! whitter! with the water
Where the burnies run,
’Mong the hills, where the rills
Dance unto the sun,
In the nooks, where the brooks
Ripple on for aye,
Whitter! whitter! bright or bitter
Be the winter day!
J. H. P.
BOOK GOSSIP.
We have on more than one occasion drawn attention in these pages to the
good work which Miss Ormerod is accomplishing by the dissemination of
knowledge on the subject of insect life as it affects agriculture. She
has now published a _Guide to Methods of Insect Life, and Prevention
and Remedy of Insect Ravage_ (London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co.),
which cannot fail greatly to advance the object she has in view. The
_Guide_ was written at the request of the Institute of Agriculture,
and its chief purpose is to give some information on the habits, and
means of prevention, of crop insects. The book is written in a style
which will render it useful to agriculturists, gardeners, and others,
even although they happen to have no scientific knowledge whatever of
entomology. The various insects, their eggs and larvæ, are described
in terms as free from scientific terminology as is possible; and
such scientific terms as must occasionally be used are explained in a
glossary at the end of the book. The illustrations are numerous; and
between these and the verbal descriptions given, no difficulty should
at any time be felt in identifying any particular insect pest, and
applying to it the treatment which the author suggests. The methods
of prevention are mainly taken from the reports which Miss Ormerod
has been in the habit of receiving annually from a large number of
agriculturists, so that the reader has here, in one little book, the
united experience and observations of a large body of practical men.
⁂
Last year we had the pleasure of publishing in this _Journal_ two
papers on the subject of Shetland and its Industries, by Sheriff
Rampini, of Lerwick. Since then, the same gentleman has delivered
two lectures before the Philosophical Institution, Edinburgh, which
lectures are now published in a neat little volume, under the title of
_Shetland and the Shetlanders_ (Kirkwall: William Peace and Son). In
the papers which appeared in our pages, the author confined himself
to the industries of the island, its agriculture and fisheries; in
these lectures, however, he gives himself greater scope, and treats of
the history, traditions, and language of the people, introducing many
anecdotes characteristic of them and of their habits.
OCCASIONAL NOTES.
AMERICAN LITERARY PIRACY.
In the _London Figaro_, the editor thus writes: Those literary men who
are agitating for a copyright convention with the United States have
doubtless suffered in the following way, which seems to me particularly
hard on some of the authors of this country. I am, let it be assumed,
then, the writer of a number of short stories, which, at anyrate, for
the purposes of my statement, I will conclude to have been good enough
to earn sufficient popularity to bring them within the purview of the
American book pirates. Very well—my stories are taken as quickly as
they appear and published in the States, not only in a book-form, but
in all the principal newspapers which devote some of their columns to
fiction.
For this honour I, of course, receive never a cent, and that is a
distinct hardship, I take it. But that is not all. My stories having
appeared in the States, slightly altered to suit American tastes,
and without my name attached, are read and admired by the editors
of English provincial journals, who straightway proceed to cut out
the fictions in question, and alter them back again, to suit the
idiosyncrasies of their British readers. Thus my handiwork appears a
second time in this country; and in not one, but possibly a dozen or a
score of provincial newspapers.
The result is this. When I go, a month or two after, and offer a
collection of my short stories to a London publisher, he reads them,
and replies in effect: ‘Yes, I like your stories very well; but what
is the use of my publishing them, when they have appeared in half the
country papers in the kingdom?’ It is in vain I explain. The injury
has been done; and an apology from the country editors is but a slight
and unsatisfactory atonement for an act which has kept me out of scores
or hundreds of pounds.
Besides this, there are other publishers who, seeing that my fiction
appears in the _Little Pedlington Mirror_ or the _Mudborough Gazette_,
mentally determine that my calibre as a writer cannot be very great
if I am reduced to dispose of my copy to such papers as these. And
therefore, through no fault of my own, but, as a matter of fact,
in actual consequence of my success, my reputation as a writer is
positively injured in quarters in which it is most important to me it
should be sustained. I have been describing incidents which have really
occurred, I may add; and I think that the grievance is one that needs
serious attention, with a view to its redress.
[The editor of _Figaro_ has our fullest sympathy. We, too, are
the victims of American malpractices. Many of the short stories
which appear in _Chambers’s Journal_ are copied into the
American newspapers without leave, and _without acknowledgment
of the source whence taken_. These papers reach Great Britain
with the purloined material, which our provincial press in
turn transfers to its pages. Expostulation is of no avail:
the British journalist sees a story in an American newspaper
which will suit his purpose, and at once takes possession of
property, which of course he believes to be American (and
therefore legitimate spoil), but which has in reality been paid
for and previously published by ourselves. We thus doubtless
lose many subscribers, who, finding our Tales and Stories given
at full length in the penny papers, are pleased to have them at
a slightly cheaper rate than the original.—_ED. Ch. Jl._]
SOWING AND HARVESTING.
Farmers, besides being subject to the risks incurred by all engaged
in commercial enterprises, are in addition peculiarly dependent on
the very variable weather of our climate. In 1877, Professor Tanner
was deputed by the Science and Art Department to make an inquiry into
the conditions regulating the growth of barley, wheat, and oats. He
found that on a certain farm the portion of the barley-crop which was
harvested in fine harvest-weather yielded per acre forty bushels,
each of which weighed fifty-six pounds; while on the same farm the
part harvested after some rain had fallen—in bad harvest-weather—also
yielded forty bushels per acre; but in this case each bushel weighed
only forty pounds—thus showing that there was a loss of six hundred and
forty pounds of food on each acre. Barley is also peculiarly sensitive
to the condition of its seed-bed. Two parts of the same field were
sown with similar seed; but in one case the seed was got down in good
spring-weather, and in the other, after heavy rain; and the result
was that the former grew freely, and yielded per acre forty bushels,
weighing fifty-eight and a half pounds each; while in the latter case
the seed never grew freely, and yielded per acre only twenty-four
bushels, weighing fifty-four pounds per bushel—thus showing a loss of
one thousand and forty-four pounds of grain per acre.
In the case of wheat, and particularly of the finer varieties, the
losses arising from bad harvest-weather tell very materially on the
prices. Of the same crop of fine white wheat grown in 1877 under
similar conditions, the part harvested in good weather yielded per acre
forty bushels, each weighing sixty-six pounds; while the part which
could not be harvested before being damaged by rain yielded an equal
number of bushels; but the weight of each bushel was decreased by five
pounds, and this latter was sold at two-and-sixpence per bushel lower
than the former. Besides this, if ungenial weather should prevent
the farmer sowing his wheat in good time, the yield is still further
lessened, if indeed he does not deem it expedient to sow barley instead.
One would think that oats—the hardiest of our cereals—would suffer
little from the effects of bad weather; but in a case in which two
portions of oats grown under similar conditions were examined, it was
found that the portion harvested in good weather produced thirty-three
bushels, each weighing forty-one and a half pounds; while that stacked
after some rain had fallen was found to give thirty-two bushels,
weighing thirty-nine and a half pounds each.
RUSSIAN LONGEVITY.
From a correspondent, who has passed some years in Russia, we learn
that in the village of Velkotti, in the St Petersburg government, an
old woman is living who has just attained her one hundred and thirtieth
birthday! The old lady is in the enjoyment of good health, but
complains of her deafness (and no wonder). Her hair is still long and
plentiful, considering her age. She spent her youth in great poverty,
but is now pretty well off. She has outlived three husbands; and has
had a family of nineteen children, all of whom have been married, and
are now dead, the last one to die being a daughter of ninety-three. She
lives with one of her great-grandchildren, a man of fifty.
Our correspondent also informs us that a few months ago an unusually
curious wedding took place in Ekaterinoslav, in Russia. The
bridegroom was sixty-five years old, the bride sixty-seven. By former
marriages, each of them have children and grandchildren, and even
great-grandchildren, living in the same town. The bridegroom’s father,
now in his one hundred and third year, and the bride’s mother, in her
ninety-sixth year, are still alive, and were at the wedding.
* * * * *
The Conductor of CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL begs to direct the attention of
CONTRIBUTORS to the following notice:
_1st._ All communications should be addressed to the ‘Editor, 339
High Street, Edinburgh.’
_2d._ For its return in case of ineligibility, postage-stamps
should accompany every manuscript.
_3d._ MANUSCRIPTS should bear the author’s full _Christian_ name,
Surname, and Address, legibly written; and should be written on
white (not blue) paper, and on one side of the leaf only.
_4th._ Offerings of Verse should invariably be accompanied by a
stamped and directed envelope.
_If the above rules are complied with, the Editor will do his best to
insure the safe return of ineligible papers._
* * * * *
Printed and Published by W. & R. CHAMBERS, 47 Paternoster Row, LONDON,
and 339 High Street, EDINBURGH.
* * * * *
_All Rights Reserved._