The New Student's Reference Work/Green, Seth

Green, Seth, born at Rochester, N. Y., March 19, 1817, received a common-school education, but early gave all his time to hunting and fishing. When in Canada, in 1838, he noticed the odd movements of some salmon and judged that they were about to make ready a nest for their spawn. So he climbed a tree and carefully watched them for 48 hours. He saw that as soon as the spawn was cast, the male salmon and other fish ate all they could find, and that only a few eggs were left, which the female carefully hid under a covering of gravel. He had never read on the subject, but from what he saw he felt sure that fish could be artificially hatched. He invented the method of protecting the spawn of the salmon, and in 1867 hatched 15,000,000 shad at Holyoke, Mass., besides extending his work of artificial hatching to the Hudson, Potomac and Susquehanna. Green transported the first shad ever taken to California. Altogether, he artificially hatched over 20 varieties of fish, invented many appliances therefor, and wrote Trout-Culture and Fish-Hatching and Fish Catching. To him, more than to any other American pisciculturist, is due the great advance in late years in fish culture in the New World. He died at Rochester, N. Y., Aug. 20, 1888.