ADDENDUM 



TO THE 



REPORT ON THE SALMON DISEASE. 



BY 



FRANK BUCKLAND, Esq. 



The causes to Avhich the salmon disease and its spread have been 

 attributed may be put under one or other of the following heads : — 



1. Pollutions. 



2. Lowness of water caused by excessive land drainage. 



3. Effects of frost and snow on the water. 



4. Overstocking or overcrowding of fish. 



5. Obstruction by weirs. 



6. Dead fish left in the rivers. 



7. Wounds from fish fighting on the spawning beds and injuries 



by anglers. 



8. Transport of fungus by birds. 



1. Pollutions. 



Before the official inquiry into this question" was ordered the 

 proprietors on the Tweed seemed to have almost universally made 

 up their minds that the cause of the disease in the Tweed was 

 pollutions. 



Various witnesses stated in evidence that the Tweed is much 

 polluted. " Much pollution comes from Kelso. All the refuse from 

 " Galashiels and Hawick comes down the river. The water is 

 " also affected by the pollution of the Gala and Ettrick. It is 

 " offensive to the smell in summer." 



Again, a witness stated that the pollutions in the Tweed last 

 season were much worse, owing to the hard winter. By a pollu- 

 " tions " he meant water from the factories at Galashiels. " On 

 " Sunday and Monday," he said, " the water is quite clean and 

 " pure. On Monday after 5 and all the week it is like ink — 

 " it is a bluish black." 



"The water is not at all pure now. The pollution is both 

 " chemical and vegetable — chiefly indigo." 



" Wool scouring sends turpentine, sulphur, arsenic, spirits of 

 u tar, and black soap into the river. This comes from the wool 

 " in the wool-works. The fish get unhealthy through pollutions. 

 " The pollution is double what it was in 1874." 



" Innerleithen has turned its town sewage into the Tweed 

 et within the last two years." 



Under the head of pollution sheep dipping has been mentioned. 

 I am not, however, inclined to attribute much importance to 

 this cause as the origin of, or the means of keeping up, the salmon 

 disease, though no doubt sheep dipping does much injury in the 

 spring of the year to fry, &c. 



