178 DE. BEETT NOTES AND QtTEEIES OX THE COLNE. 



vatory, and the "vrater used there was not taken from the river 

 Gade. . Mr. Forsdyke, sen., has seen the same disease in fish many 

 years ago. Now a few words for the cure. Mr. Frank Buckhmd's 

 cure is, rub salt on the back of the fish, but, as in putting salt on 

 the tail of the bii'd, you must first catch him. Mr. J. King once 

 tried the salt cure, and the men put so much salt on that the skin 

 of the fish came off and the fish died. Keepers tell me that a Kttle 

 salt will do good to fish which have mildew or mould on them. I 

 think that disease in the fish kept in aquariums is caused by neg- 

 lecting to have water-weeds in the water, or not enough. You 

 may have too* many fish in an aquarium, but it is almost impossible 

 to have too mucli of water-weeds. The weeds give both food and 

 air to the fish. I am told that after -a thunderstorm and sudden 

 heavy rain, quantities of dead fish may sometimes be seen floating 

 down the Colne at Hamper Mill. I cannot think it is the sewage 

 that kills the fish, because formerly all the sewage of "Watford 

 went into the stream and now very little goes in, and very soon 

 no sewage will pollute the stream, because the Board of Health 

 intend to put into force the Rivers' Pollution Act of last year. 



One cause of the decrease of trout may be that there is so much 

 mud in the river. When I bathe in the Colne I find the bathing 

 place itself is pretty free from mud, but if I swim up the stream a 

 little way and then put my feet to the ground I sink into mud 

 above my knees. 'Now trout hate mud ; they like a gravelly bottom. 

 Some trout died at llickmansworth, and as they were thought to 

 be poisoned, they were sent to Mr. Frank Buckland, who found 

 that they died suffocated by mud and weeds. The late Sir 

 James Willes, when he first went to live at Otterspool, found the 

 bed of the river very full of mud. It had no trout. He had 

 taken out some huntli'eds of loads of dirt and broken crockery, 

 ginger-beer and soda-water bottles, champagne bottles, etc. 

 The presence of these was explained by the fact that Otters- 

 pool was formerly a fashionable hotel and much frequented by 

 Londoners. Well, the river having been cleaned, the trout re- 

 turned, and after a time the Judge had several tame trout which 

 he used to feed, and on no account would he allow tliem to be 

 caught. Some were the Geneva trout. The late Mr. Joseph Hill 

 used to have some tame trout in the stream which flows past his 

 garden, at Frogmore. Mr. Hill used to think that the Colne trout 

 •and the Gade trout were of difl'erent kinds. Mr. J. King has had 

 taken out of the river some 4000 loads of mud, and there is 

 plenty left. 



