attention. We are always hearing of the scarcity of mussels for bait, and that fishermen have to go far and pay dear for that particular shell-fish, which is largely used on the lines set for cod and haddocks. Well, what we want to teach our coast-folk is, that they should grow their own bait and be independent of their neighbours. It is quite possible for each fishing community to have both its oyster and mussel-farm. At Colchester and Whitstable we know that oyster-culture forms a large and profitable source of trade, and that the mollusk is carefully grown or cultivated from a very early period of its life. In some parts of France, and particularly in the Bay of Aiguillon, the mussels are cultivated in the same way, and are immensely profitable. The following drawing will show how the mussels are grown:—.png)
These mussel-hurdles were the invention of one Walton, who was shipwrecked in an Irish vessel in the Bay of Aiguillon. There are about 500 of these hurdles in the bay, and these give employment to about 160 boats in gathering and looking after the mussels, which, in consequence of being cheap, are largely purchased by the poor people. The following is a summary, by M. Coste, of the French Institute, of the money-results:—A hurdle generally contains from 400 to 500 layers of mussels, each of which is about 300 lbs. in weight, and sells for about 4s. 2d.—producing in all a revenue of 21,000l. per annum. So much for mussel-culture!
As regards fresh-water fish, a great deal has been accomplished in the way of artificial breeding, during the last ten years, in France and on the Continent generally. In France pisciculture has been recognised as a regular branch of industry, and the system of artificial breeding has its head-quarters at Huningue, a beautiful place not far from the St. Louis Station of the Basle and Mulhausen Railway. At this establishment pisciculture, so far as regards France, has been brought into a focus by the erection, at a cost of ten thousand pounds, of what we may call a laboratory, or rather reservoir, for the collection and distribution of fish-eggs. The établissement at Huningue is not, as many suppose, a series of fish-ponds: it is a great deal more than that. It embraces a large group of buildings devoted to the reception of fish-eggs, and with machinery for the distribution of all the ova collected, at the proper time, to such persons as require to re-stock their rivers or ponds with fish. The fish-eggs dealt in at Huningue are collected from the streams of France, Germany, and Switzerland by the accredited fishermen of those countries, assisted, when necessary, by the manipulators of Huningue. It will give a good idea of the magnitude of French fish-breeding to state that about twenty million of fish-eggs are annually distributed through the agency of the great reservoir we have mentioned. The kinds of eggs most in demand are those of the Ombre Chevalier, the Danube and Rhine salmon. Many of the eggs are procured at a considerable cost; it is calculated, for instance, that the eggs of the chevalier cost one penny each. The Danube salmon is an easily-reared fish; it is very prolific, yielding a large number of eggs, and it grows to an immense size. The general cost of fish-breeding is at the rate of twelve eggs for a penny; in China, so great a proficiency has been arrived at in artificial breeding, that twenty pounds of wholesome fish may be obtained for the sum of fourpence!
As showing how much may be achieved in fish-breeding in a limited space, we take leave to borrow, from an illustrated copy of M. Coste’s voyage of exploration, a hatching-apparatus capable of holding ten thousand eggs; we give an illustration on the next page.
A prolonged investigation of the apparatus used at Huningue has convinced us that the French engineer—(M. Coumes) who has invented or, so to speak, created the “apparel” of fish-breeding erected in that establishment—has been more than ordinarily fortunate in his devising of a means to an end. There is a very ample supply of excellent water, which of course is the chief agent used in pisciculture; and behind the group of buildings we have mentioned, there is a suite of ponds and running streams devoted to the exhibition of the progressive stages of growth of the Rhine salmon, Ombre Chevalier, and various kinds of trout. As We have said, the collection of the eggs, and, in some cases, the spawning-fish gives employment to many of the fresh-water fishermen of Switzerland and Germany, who make a good deal of money at this picturesque occupation. We noted ourselves, whilst driving to the bridge-of-boats at Strasbourg, the establishment of a pêcheur, who seemed very comfortable from devoting his time to the collection of eggs and spawning-fish for the authorities at Huningue.
It is not our purpose to enter at present upon the subject of maritime pisciculture, further than to state that experiments are at present being conducted on various marine fishes, and on the crustacea, with a view of entering upon the improvement of the sea-coast fisheries of France on a scale of great magnitude. Already there are wonderful achievements to record in the way of