SIR LYON PLAYFAIR ON AQUACULTURE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1954, 15 January 1885, Page 4

SIR LYON PLAYFAIR ON AQUACULTURE.

WlllTlMt to the 'I iniC3 Sir Lyon I'laj fail ai y a ; —ln my animal \ isits to the Unitid States, I gtn-rally take up one subject of public interest for the pin pose of aequiiiii'.,' useful information. Duiii.g tin's autumn I studied the work of the C jnimissioncjs of Fi-henen, especially because tho Xi iti-.li Association appointed a committee for this purpose. The subject is too long for a letter, but a few fjcts in«i y b rt of interest in relation to Mr Chamber's letter and your leader upon iquaculture. In icsjard to the special subject of carp, much ptogiess lias been made in t'i.> United States hj tho inttodiution of the two German v.irietu'i. It is curious that they should h»\e done so before the oil mothci I'otin tiy, foi the u'.iuiind of old fish --tow* a>e spread o\er Kugland, and .ue a,hn< st always near tue monastoiii-s. Tens ol thousands of old cup ponds once ( \ist d in Kugland, but .is the cni t > weio iv> longei cultured, they reverted to their feral state and became valucle". In China and Gel many the- eultuic of cup is still an nnpoitant industry. The United States, in introducing tlie cnltuie, \\iBuly selected the German species In ISS2, the carp bred in the Commission ponds at Washington were distiibuted in lots of 20 to 10,000 applicants in cveiy State and Terntory. The a\erage distance to which they were sent was 900 miles, and the total mileage of shipments was 9,000,000 of miles; while the actual distance li a versed by the tiansportiition railway cars was 34,000 miles Alieudy Germ vi carp ha \o been introduced into .■»0,000 sepaiate waters. But I do not wish to limit my letter to carp. Aijua culture has become an important aflait of the State among our Transatlantic brethren. The separate States prosecute it, and in ISS'2 spent £24,000 in its pro motion. The Imperial Government spent nearly £30,000 on the same subject. Tl>e scale on which this is done may be indicated by the fact that the Government at Washington have provided the Fishery Commission with two steamers, commanded by oificeis of the na\y, and specially designed for scientific research and for fi-th propagation. The Albatio9s, of 1000 toni, is a model of what a ship should be for the Hut purpose ; the F'sh Hawk, of 850 tons, is not pood in heav> seas, but is well fitted tor the lattci purpose. Tlirtc are 17 hatching stations, of which the head is at Wood's Hall, in Massachusetts. Ha\ing paid a short \ isit to Piofosor Baird there this year, I am tempted to cnlatge upon it ; but I will only suy that there is an excellent house for the iish, containing 30 bed's, labor xtnries for lOFcaich, and lutc'img ponds for two millions of ,\oung i cod. Much of the woik is done by j \olunteer agency. The vai ions Universities send then naturalists, and the Smithsonian In-.tihit.on devote money for s|>ecial leseaiches and publications Theie is an essential difference between the mode of proceeding of tic Government of the United States and that of out own country in relation to fisheries. We have had Commissions without end, on some of which I have served. Wist bodies of contradictory evidence ha\e been obtained from fishermen, who, I agree with Hu\le\, know less about fish than the rest of the community- Our Commissions June led to little useful result. The Amciican Commissioners act in a different way. They put questions directly to nature and not to fishermen. They pursue scientific methods, and not thoso of rule of thumb. 'lhey make scientific investigations into the habits, food, geographical distubution of fishes, and 1 into the temperature of the seas and rhers in winch they live or spawn. Practical aims and experiments arc always kept in \iew. As an experiment, they tritd to introduce shad to the Pacific coast, and succeeded ; they tried to introduce California!! salmon to the Atlantic slope, and failed. As an instance of a practical aim, they line u>stocked the Sacramento and its tributai ii-8 so effectually that the annual increase oacii year for the last fey yeais has beo;i ,"),000,000 11)3. The object of my letter is to show that, while the pi hate propagator :niy cultivatejyoung fish by thousands, aquacultme can only be undertaken by a Government, for its statistic il ic->ults must be counted up by hundieds of millions. In the United States all the depaitments of the Government cordially co operate in fish culture ; the railways assist, and piovincial bodies an 1 acthe. In Scotland we have a Fishery Commission, willing and able to make cvpenments, but the Admiralty cannot find a vessel to make dredging experiments, and the Treasuiy cannot find €1000 to cairy out impoitint researches only half complete. Biological stations in England and Scotland are bemsi slowly founed on account of deficient public support. Under the present apathy of the public and of Government ,i few useful experiments may be made, but an increasing aquaculture can never assume proportions to compensate a declining agriculture until our own conceptions aie much enlaigcd as to the scientific methods necessary to make fiili cultuie prosperous.

Sir M»>->ks Mmntkkiork, notwithstanding his hundred yeais, is btill as kei n ai ever in the management of his affairs. Only the other day he reminded liis pi hate secietiry that the agi cement between them for a three years' engagement was on tho point of expiration. '• We will icncw it for another tlnee years, if yon pl'-ase," said the centenarian. Ox August 'JS last, Pompey Crahain, of Montgomery, Ken Yoik* dcpaitud tins life at the leinarkably great age of 1 1!) \ ears. His nseinoi v for the incidents .uid persons of his otith was good to the last. He was manicd three times, and took his second bride snveial years before the death of W.uhint'ton. SdMK remaikable cases of suicide have lately been made public. In one case <i gentleman luoke a small ink bottle into pieces and hum Slowed the pai tides of gla^s, theieby cutting the tlnoat to such an extent that he bled to death. Another case is that of a beerhouse keeper in Northampton, who was suffering from melancholia, took scarcely any food, death intervening from imponed starvation. OFlatc yeats glass flooring seems to have acquired increased favour in Tans for ufco in banks, commercial establishments, &c., on account of its durability and relatis ely moderate cost. The glass slabs arc cut out in small squares, &c., to prevent their being slippery. These tiles arc cask, and have a greenish rellec tion. EVI'JIRIMKXTS JV TpitMl' SrsOLIM..— Mr A. Stephen Wilson, North Km mumly, Aberdeenshhe, last year again conducted experiments as to the intervals left between turnip plants at singling on an Aberdeen farm, with the following results -—At the time of singling the intervals ranged between five inches and eight ; and, at the time of pulling, between 6.2 and 9.7 inches. In the yellow turnips, acven of the eight teits give the greater weights at the lesser intervals ; the weight on the remaining test being equal. The two largest inter vals at singling, namely, 7i and eiyht inches, give the lowest weight*. The smallest interval of 5J inches gives the greatest weight of nearly 30 tons per acre. The lowcet weight is 22 tons fiom ~\ nicliLs. In the swedes, four of the tests give the best results from the nauow intervals, and four from the wider. The heaviest pair of drills, yielding 3<"> and 33 tons per acre, are from intervals of six and seven inches, and the lighest pair, yielding 29 and 32 tons, are ftoin intervals of sik and eight inches. All the greatest weights are from the h'vo and hix inch intervals. Wisi' I'ou\ — " For ten years my wife tia* confined to her bed with sik h a complication of -iilmcnts th.it no doctor could tell wh.it w.^ tlic matter or cdru licr, and I uncd up a small fortune in huinbnjr ituff. Six months ago I saw an Aim ruin fin? with Hop Bitter* on it, and I thought I would be a fool once more. I tried it, but my fully pro\ed to be wisdom. Two bottles rcir<vl lit, she is now as u'ell and strong as anj m.in' 1 ! wife, and it cost me only two dollars." — H. \V , Detroit, Mich. Read