Part 16 (1/2)

”When the salreat deal of hesitation ao up the river to spawn, and ant to find out whether they go back to the sea again, whether they swim directly up the stream, or whether they remain in the brackish water at theso, what is the use of knowing?” asked Colin ”Ias the salmon spawns?”

”The salmon is one of the most important food fishes of the country,”

the professor said rebukingly, ”and it is as important for us to know all about its habits as it is to know about the way a grain of wheat grows”

”I hadn't thought of that,” Colin said, a little sha really is important, no matter how small”

The professor s fish,” he said, ”or, indeed, with any kind of science, you will find out it is always the little things that tell the story Take the grain of wheat again If one kind of wheat ripens two days earlier on an average than another kind, you reat iht--and often do--ood crop and one which is frost-bitten and spoiled”

”That's a lot easier to see,” agreed the boy ”But, sir,” he objected, ”you can pick out one little bit of a field and work on that, and it will 'stay put' Fishes wander all over the place”

”We want them to do so, my boy,” was the reply

”How can you work on separate fish? One looks so like another!”

”And for that very reason we're going to tag the them?”

”With a little alusters fasten a tin can to a dog's tail Every tag has a number, and we use aluminum because it corrodes rapidly in salt water”

”Then I should think,” said Colin, ”that was the very reason why you shouldn't use it”

”Why not?” asked the professorto stay in the salt water, because they are going up the river to spawn If, therefore, we catch a fish in the nets higher up strea, we know that it hasn't been in salt water at all; if dull and just a little worn away, that the fish with that tag has been staying in the brackish water near the mouth of the river; but if it is deeply corroded, that the fish returned to sea for a tiathered that way But in theyou will have a chance to see how it is done, and then the results--when they are published--will see”

”Have you been associated with the Bureau of Fisheries, Professor Podd?”

Colin asked

”Not directly,” the other replied ”I should have enjoyed it, and it seems to me a work of the first importance, but every man is apt to think that about his oork, or work that is like his own But I can tell you what decided ive all my spare time to the fishery question”

”What was that?” asked Colin

”It was a phrase in a lecture that Dr Baird, the founder of fish culture in A about the need of the work He pointed out that there was more actual life in a cubic foot of water than in a cubic foot of land, and closed by saying, 'The work of conserving the Fisheries of the United States will not be finished until every acre of water is farmed as carefully as every acre or land'”

”I never quite thought of it as far,” said the boy

”Nor had I, before that time,” the professor said ”But ever since then I have seen that we of the present tireat pioneers, the discoverers, the explorers of this neorld Instead of blazing our trail through a wilderness of trees we dredge our way through a wilderness of waters; instead of a stockade around a blockhouse to protect us against wild beasts and wilder Indian foes, we have but a thin plank between us and destruction; instead of a feolves and ht raise, we have thousands of millions of fierce, finny pirates hich to do battle, and ork against odds the old pioneers could not even have estireat!” cried Colin, his eyes shi+ning

”The surface of the sea,” the professor continued, war to his subject, ”reveals no more of its mystery than the smoke cloud above the city tells the story of the wild race of life in its thronging streets, or than the waving tips of a forest of hty trees reveal the myriad forms below Each current of the ocean is an empire of its oith its tribes endlessly at war; the serried hosts of voracious fish prey on those about them, fishes of medium depth do perpetual war upon the surface fish, and some of these are forced into the air to fly like birds away from the Nemesis below”

”Anda neorld!” was the reply ”No one for aof Aators are sure of immortal fame, but even so, as the New World they found to the illimitable areas of unknown life, in the bottom of the sea, that have been made known to man Think of the wonder that has been revealed by the _Challenger_ and other shi+ps that have explored the ocean beds!”

”There is still a great deal unknown, isn't there?”