CULTURE OF THE SALMON. 105 



if he could lay it, bright and silvery as it is, on the table of 

 some friend at home. 



Hendrick Hudson, when he sailed up the river that 

 bears his name, wrote in his journal : " Many salmon, 

 mullets,* and rays very great." When he got beyond the 

 Highlands he wrote again, " Great stores of salmon in the 

 river." Alas ! where are they now, or those that swarmed 

 in the lakes and streams of New York which connect with 

 the St. Lawrence ? But it is useless now to rail at internal 

 improvements, chartered companies, and enterprising indi- 

 viduals who have been instrumental in banishing them; 

 our object, at present, is to induce them to return. 



Salmon commence to make in towards the rivers from 

 which they migrated at rather a later period than shad. 

 Of course those of a more southern latitude are earlier 

 comers. On the Bay of Fundy, for instance, at St. John, 

 N. B., some are taken in May, in June they are abundant. 

 If they are introduced in the Hudson and Connecticut 

 they might, doubtless, be taken in Long Island Sound and 

 in the lower bay in April. They continue to come in 

 schools and ascend the rivers all summer, the earlier comers 

 being the earlier spawners, while the late spawners fre- 

 quently remain in the river all winter, and go to sea in the 

 spring. The latter, as has been ascertained in Scotland, 

 may not spawn the ensuing fall, a period of two years ex- 

 piring before they reproduce. From the information gained 

 in the British Provinces, I am of opinion that there is only 

 one, and that an annual, migration of the same fish to and 



* Most likely shad. 



