THE CULTIVATION OF EELS. [To THE EDITOR or THE "
SPECTATOR."] SIE,—I have been greatly interested in the eel all my life, and ala sending your correspondent Mrs. Somerset a copy of my paper for February 16th, which contains accounts of eels kept in captivity as pets in tubs and tanks—it may seem strange to make a pet of an eel, but eels are most interesting creatures. One account describes how a French family—that of Professor M. Demarest—kept an eel from December 13th, 1828. to 1865; probably longer. It had been purchased with the object of being served up cooked ci in tartare; as the cook was not in a hurry, the Professor had time to examine it, and was so much interested that it was adopted as a pet by the family for two generations. It lived in the cold months in a large earthenware pan indoors, and in the summer in a tank in the garden, and grew to be over four feet in length—so it must have been a female, as male eels never, or hardly ever, exceed about sixteen inches in length. The other account is a description by Mr. John Mennell, of York, of the life of an eel which has been for about twenty years a great pet in the family of an angling friend of his in York. This eel is still alive, and is only about twelve inches in length, although probably twenty-two years old—allowing for its early life in the sea. I will later on send your correspondent an illustrated brochure I have prepared for our Fresh-Water Fish Committee on the capture, curing, and cooking of eels, with some notes on their cultivation. I have stocked ponds with eels by putting in elvers averaging about two and a half inches. They will do quite well in any water in which other fish, such as roach, tench, carp, &c., do well—even in a farm " horse pond " if it holds water always. On the Continent and in Japan eels are cultivated in ponds, and are in some cases artificially fed—that is, where cheap suitable fish or meat offal can be had. Eels are particularly fond of the fresh-water mussel; in Japan the salt-water mussel is used in eel-rearing ponds—of course, removed from the shells. Every traveller in Japan knows what attractive dishes the cooks make out of eels, and how numerous the little restaurants are where eel is the chief attraction.
Our Fresh-Water Fish Committee for England and Wales, and the corresponding Scottish and Irish Committees, are working with the object of increasing our home production of eels for the market. In the past we have been largely supplied from Holland and Denmark.
Mr. W. L. Calderwood, F.R.S.E., Inspector of Fisheries for Scotland, has just published, for the Scottish Committee, through
H.M. Stationery Office, 28 Forth Bridge, Edinburgh, a pamphlet entitled The Common Eel and its Capture: with Suggestions Applicable to Scotland, price 44.—a most interesting and valuable
monograph.—I am, Sir, &c., R. B. Maiterox,
19 Adam Street, Strand, N.C. 2. Editor, Fishing Gazette.
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