PRACTICAL J E. SLACK, N.D., WO speak that WO do know, rtnd tcslfQ thnt we have ecen NEW PORK GEO. E. WOODIVARD. ORA-NGE JJCDD GO., 245 BROADWAY. 1872. - Eitrrrd, nccordiny to Act of ongess. in the year 1672, Ur J. It. SLACK, 111 the Ofllce of tlc Lilmrin of jn.rcss in FTnshinton. INTRODUCTION. TEREFORE, honorable and worthy conntrpen, let not thc meanncss of the word flsh distaste you, for it will afford W good gold ns tha mlncs of GuIann or Potosi, with less haznrd and charge, and more ccrtaint y and fpcllity.-hiths Uisl. of Firgitth, hdon, 16 pge 243. Tm.8 words of the original John Smith, written aomc tvo hundred Tears since, mcm prophetic. Spite of thc snccm nnd scorn of the ignorant, to which few ham been morc exposcd than amelves, and spite of thc wails of would-bc pkcic.ulturists, who, dnzzlcd by tho imnginnry bdance-hhrcts of hypothetical trout farms, have rushed ignorantly into fish-farming and become clisgusted that thc mines of Qnirina or Potosi were not at onco opened to them, fish c-ultur, in the hmda of able and pcrscvcring individuals, has provcn to ba a thorough and complcta success. That many hme failed, there is no doubt but compared to the number nf tllose wllose fortunes hmc bccn trrmlied, if not upon the mincs of Cfuianu nnd Potnsi, upon other cquallg unprofitable investments, fhe number ia fcm indced. Fish culture, like farming, i rr brnndl of industry which, strange to eay, is generrrllg though erroneously supposed to rcquirc littlo or no study. We hnrc known numbcrs of c.nsm in which large sums of money have been invested in fish culture by tyros, wbosc only hnomledge had been gained from a few nrticlrs in the cdms of a newspaper, or from the only orighal American m vi IRTBODUCTIOX. work then mitten upon the subject. The rcsult of hok-farming is proverbial that of book fish-farming is cqually disastrou Yet far be it from us, especialIy at the commencement of a treatise upon the subject, to iporc the value of technicnl works they are much, but not all and tho preparation of the reader for their full comprehcnsin is only to hobtained nt the pond side and in the hntching-house, where, and wherc alone, the thousand minutix of the work of the fish-fnrmcr can be observed and thoroughly learned. In thc following pages n-e hope to prcsent to our rcntlcm, as far ns can be prescntcd in a olum, the theory nnd prncticc of fish culture-thc theory as 1r.c understand it, and thc pricticc as WC hnve performed it at our fish farm nenr Bloomshry, N. J. Tlliv fnrm was purchnscd hj- us in August, 1867, of Mr. Thuddens Norris, n gentleman well-known hth ns nn author and l e r Ths placo t.w an uhi-hed condition, but onc pond had been crcrtd ant1 tockd with a few hundred sickly fishcs. At first, our undertaking was anything but pmsperrrus Our stack fishes did by doztkns our spawn, from want of proper knom-ledge of the tllrory of impregnation, nnd tllc sickly condition of our pnrunt fisheg, porhhcd by thouatlr. Musk rats bored their way through our impropcrlg.construrtcdc1 brinks B flood cnrrird an-ny thousands from our badly-lontcd lntching housr, and, finally, during our nbsmc from homc, sumc kind individuals relieved us of a lnrp nun1bc.r of our fincst fishcs. Far, however, from bring diwourngrd at this multiplicity of rniqfortunrs, wc nt once set ouwelvcd to n7urk aficr each nmv ditrnstcr to ascrrtain its cnusp and prr rent its rwnrrenrc. and --c are 11appy to state that WC have rnet tvith no rrptiticln of any of these cds. Our unilrrtn8inr ha fur two rear4 paqt bern in cvcry rspcrt a prfict success and rvo bar now on hand at Iemt thirty thousand trout, from three to eighteen inches in INTRODUCTION, length, all mised from spawn impregnnted by ourselves. In ercry cnsc our misfortunes could be traced to our own ignorance or neglect...