ken
from fish that had been caught for market, and would have been totally
lost if the Bureau had not collected them from the fishermen.

Shad have been planted in the Sacramento and Columbia Rivers flowing
into the Pacific Ocean. From these two sources they have spread until
now they are found as far south as Los Angeles, and as far north as
Alaska, a coast line of 4,000 miles, and it is said that more shad could
now be caught in the Sacramento and Columbia Rivers than in any other
water courses.

In addition to supplying the streams with young fish, it is necessary to
leave a part of each river clear so that some of the fish may find their
way up-stream to deposit their eggs. The salmon have been almost driven
out from the waters of New England, except in the Penobscot River, where
they have been kept by the watchfulness of the Fisheries Bureau. It is
believed that the entire salmon industry in Maine would be wiped out in
five years if fish culture should cease, and in the West, where the
drain on the salmon for canning purposes is so heavy, artificial
planting is used very largely to keep up the supply.

The experiments with oysters are full of interest. In Chesapeake Bay,
where the best natural oyster beds were found, the demands on them were
so great that the supply began to fail. In 1904 only a little more than
one-fourth as many were produced as in 1880. The natural oyster beds
were then marked and set aside as public fishing grounds.

These are to be used by whoever wishes but under strict protective
rules. All other ocean beds may be planted with oysters by any one who
leases the privilege from the state, and the right to collect the
oysters from a certain bed belongs to the person who leases it as fully
as does property on land.

Louisiana had a small number of natural beds. About ten years ago the
planting of oyster beds began, and soon 20,000 acres had been planted.
Conditions were particularly favorable, and within two years after the
eggs or spawn were placed it was found that oysters three and a half to
four inches in size had grown in quantities of 1,000 to 2,000 bushels
per acre. For a long time it has been the custom of fishermen to fatten
their oysters by transplanting them to new beds where the food is
abundant, and in a short time the oysters are much plumper, it takes
fewer of them to make a quart and they also sell at a higher price,
because they are of the finest quality.

These rich food