118 THE SALMON. 



themselves into that firth) ; for tlie Tweed ; and fur the 



rivers north of Tweed. There is no reasonable doubt 



that in all these cases the fishing was (at least as to 



Scotland generally, in the period subsequent to 1828, 



when an Act, known as Home Drummond's Act, was 



passed, shifting the beginning of the close season from 



the 26tliof August to the 14th of September) allowed to 



continue too long or too late. The river that was fished 



longest and latest was the Tweed (till 14th October), 



and it showed by far the greatest and most rapid 



decline. There is as little doubt that the application of 



the same rules regarding season to rivers difi'ering very 



widely from each other in their natural circumstances, 



and in the habits of their fish, was a most pernicious 



mistake. As a Highland laird very aptly expriessed it, 



thirty years ago, to a Parliamentary Committee, " To 



prohibit early rivers from beginning till late ones are 



ready, is as sensible a plan as it w^ould be to prohibit the 



farmers of England from cutting their crops till the 



harvest was ready in the Highlands." We do not mean, 



and are not of opinion, that there is much difterence 



between rivers as to the end of the season — the season 



at which a greater or less proportion of the fish begin to 



get gravid and out of condition. The reference is to 



the beginning of the season ; for there are very great 



differences between rivers regarding the periods in late 



winter or early spring at which they contain clean fish 



in quantities sufficient to render fishing profitable, and 



have got rid in any considerable degree of the foul fish, 



spawned and unspawned. To speak of " early rivers'' 



and " late rivers" is a mistake, if the allusion is to the 



