in November and December (1862 was about 250,000; in 1863 (last spawning) about 80,000. The reason that so few eggs were got during the last spawning-season was the unfavorable state of the river for netting operations."

One of the greatest results in practical fish-hatching has been obtained by my friend Mr. Thomas Ashworth, and his brother, for they have actually peopled with salmon Lochs Mask and Corrib, an area of lakes containing thirty-five acres of water. In 1861, Mr. Ashworth laid down 659,000 salmon-eggs; he being, in his own words, "confident that he could breed salmon much easier than lambs." In December 1862 he deposited no less than 770,000 salmon-eggs, making in the two years 1,429,000. Mr. Ashworth tells me that the total cost of doing this has been exceedingly small.

FISH-CULTURE IN NORWAY: BY REV. M. R. BARNARD.

During the last ten years, the attention of the Norwegian Government has been directed towards the propagation of salmon by artificial means. In a country like the Scandinavian peninsula, which has such an extent of seaboard, and which abounds in rivers large and small, running into fiords which intersect the coast, there are so many natural facilities afforded for the protection of the young fish, that it only requires some additional attention on the part of the inhabitants themselves to make Norway stand at the head of the salmon-producing countries of Europe.

Fully alive to the disadvantages which many parts of the country labor under in an agricultural respect, owing to the rigor of winter and the unfertile nature of the soil, the government, with a laudable generosity, has endeavored to promote the propagation of fish by rendering pecuniary assistance, and by the appointment of officers to superintend in the management of the operation. It is somewhat remarkable that the artificial propagation of fish was first discovered in Norway by a simple laboring man in 1848. One harvest-time he had been obliged to keep at home on account of a bad leg. To amuse himself he used to get down to the river-side and watch the trout on their spawn-ground. Being of

*The whole area of Norway is about 121,800 square miles, of which not more than 1,060 are under cultivation.

an observant nature, he was struck with the manner in which the operation was carried on. He remarked that the male fish placed itself alongside of the female in such a position that its head reached to about the middle of the body of the latter. He further noticed, that whilst the process of discharging the ova was going on, the female turned somewhat on her side with a quivering sort of motion, and that the male emitted his milt simultaneously. It therefore occurred to him that by pressing the spawn out of the female, and the milt from the male at the same time, in water, he would obtain a quantity of fructified eggs, which, by being placed in convenient places in brooks, would in due time bring forth fish. No sooner conceived than executed. He threw out his nets and caught a male and a female fish ready to spawn. His wife took the one, and he the other, and they squeezed their contents out into a bowl of clean water. He then took the eggs and placed them in a sheltered place in a stream where there were previously no trout. The following summer he was rejoiced to see that it swarmed with fish. Convinced, therefore, of the success of his plan, he constructed for himself a breeding-box close to his house; and notwithstanding the jeers and scoffs of his neighbors, who thought it impious, to say the least, in interfering and meddling with things which belonged to Nature alone, continued to breed fish every autumn. Such was the first attempt at hatching ova in Norway!

I will now proceed to give a brief account of the hatching-apparatus generally in vogue in that country, as communicated to me by Professor Rasch.

The case in which the hatching-boxes are placed (and which is under shelter, so that the water does not freeze) is twelve feet long, thirty-four inches wide inside, and five inches deep. The bottom must be perfectly water-tight, and very evenly planed. The sides are formed of single smooth-planed boards, which fit tightly against the bottom, to prevent any leakage ensuing. The uppermost end of the case, into which the water runs from the pipe, is of the same height as the sides. The whole is divided into five compartments, the first of which receives the water from the pipe. This compartment is eighteen inches wide, while the other four are each thirty inches wide. The partition-boards are one inch lower than the sides of the case, and have holes bored in them at a distance of two inches from the bottom, by means of a hot wire. They are bored in two rows (vide fig. 1.), four below,

and three above.

length of the case.

The water can thus run evenly throughout the

The hatching-boxes (fig. 2), four of which are placed in each compartment, are constructed as follows: The sides consist of smooth-planed board, two feet long, three inches high, and an inch and a half thick. The bottom is a glass plate, two feet long, and seven inches wide. The ends are of perforated zinc, or brass wirework, the same height as the sides, which are strengthened by two transverse pieces of wood. All the wood-work should be of wellseasoned material; and those parts which come in contact with the water should be glazed, as any resinous or pitchy substance in the wood would prove injurious to the ova. I should mention that the first compartment into which the water falls should be furnished with a network lid of zinc wire, which forms the bottom of a framework three or four inches high, so as to prevent the water running into the next compartment except through the holes in the zinc lid. Thus the larvæ of destructive insects, worms, &c., will be kept out. The upper end of the case should stand two

inches higher than the lower end. The water which runs out from the last compartment is prevented running out the whole width of the case by means of two pieces of wood, which are fastened to the sides, and reach nearly to the middle, and is carried off by a pipe.

The slimy deposit which comes even from the purest water, and settles on the eggs (it is not detrimental unless there be too much of it), can easily be got rid of by gently moving the boxes, and allowing it to pass through the ends.

After the lapse of about four weeks, it will be well to take the hatching-boxes out of the case to ascertain which eggs are good. The action of the air will render them all transparent; but on replacing them in the water, the unfruitful ones will assume a milky opaque color. These can readily be removed with a pair of fine pincers or long tweezers. The exposure to the air does not hurt the eggs, but care must be taken that they do not become dry on the surface. After repeating this process three or four times, all the bad eggs can be removed. "I am convinced," is the remark of Professor Rasch, "that in a case of the above size I could hatch 10,000 salmon-ova in each box, which would thus give a total of 160,000," there being four hatching-boxes in each of the four compartments. If the fry are to be kept any time in the boxes, care must be taken that they be not overstocked; but 3,000 may well be kept in them from two to three months."

Where water from a spring cannot be directly obtained, the following plan is often adopted. The scale of operations is however necessarily more limited. A large tub, or other wooden vessel, is fitted with a tap. Care must be taken that it shall have previously lain a sufficiently long time in water, so that all the deleterious substances from the wood shall have been extracted. It is then placed on a stand at a sufficient height from the ground to allow the case containing the hatching-boxes to be placed beneath the tap; and they should have a gentle inclination, so that the upper end be about half an inch higher than the lower.

The water, having passed through the boxes, empties itself into another vessel, at least as large as the tub, and should be regulated that it shall run out in twenty-four hours. The tub, therefore, only requires replenishing once in that time. If the water be at all muddy, it is well to place a layer of fine sand mixed with charcoal at the bottom of the tub.

Even in a common tea-saucer a great many ova may be hatched out. The saucer is placed in a deep soup-plate, and a couple of mossstalks laid over the edge in such a manner that they shall act as syphons. A constant flow of water thus takes place from the saucer into the plate. In about twelve hours half the water from the saucer will have run out, so that it will require filling again morning and evening. When necessary, fresh moss-stalks can be substituted.

It is of course best to procure the male and female fish to be

operated upon direct from their breeding-ground, and as short a time as possible before the spawning commences. Where this is impossible, they should be kept in fish-boxes or reservoirs; care however be taken that they be not kept too long in confinement before being used, as this would have an injurious effect both on the ova and the milt. One male fish is sufficient to fructify the ova of a great many females, and can be used from six to eight days in succession.

It is not difficult to ascertain when the female is ready to spawn. Her distended abdomen yields easily to a gentle pressure, and an undulating movement which is perceptible on touching it, shows that the spawn is already disconnected from the ovary. She should then be held by the head in a vertical position, so that the ova will of their own weight fall down towards the vent. When the fish are large, it is best to have three persons to assist. One takes the fish by the head, and the other by the tail, holding it horizontally over a dish, the vent downwards, whilst the third very gently presses along her stomach and sides. When the bottom of the dish has been covered with ova, in layers of two or three deep, the fish can be released into the tub of water from which she was taken. The dish, by the way, must previously have been nearly filled with water. Before operating on the male fish, the water from the fish had better be drained off, and fresh poured in. The male fish is then taken and handled in the same way. A small quantity of milt, just sufficient to discolor the water after being gently stirred with the fingers, is sufficient. It is then put back again into the tub, and while the female is again being brought out, the contents of the dish are to be emptied into another tub half filled with pure water. When all the roe has been pressed out and fructified as before with the milt, and again emptied into this tub, the water is allowed to run out through a hole previously bored in the side about an inch above the bottom. By the motion of the water running out, all the eggs will be brought into contact with the milt. In about five or ten minutes the ova can then be removed into the hatching-boxes.

If the eggs are in a fit state, the very smallest pressure is sufficient to squeeze them out; and it has been found that with due care the female suffers no injury from the manipulation, and will be as fruitful the following year as ever.

The unfruitful eggs, after they have been some time in the