204 DESTRUCTION OF SALMON. 



not too feet wide, and, in summer time, not three 

 inches deep. If then, the winter be very wet, 

 the quantity of water invites the fish into places 

 left, perhaps, quite dry in the early spring ; and 

 should a dry spring ensue, not only is the mother 

 fish killed by inability to get back to the main 

 river, but the spawn is never vivified, being ren- 

 dered totally abortive from the want of aerated 

 water to nourish it. A dry spawning season is 

 much more propitious than a very wet one, 

 because the parent fish do not ascend too high, 

 but if the winter and spring be wet, so much the 

 better for them — the poachers are " at fault." 



This reminds me, that there is one evil equal to, 

 if not greater than all others, to which the dimi- 

 nution of salmon must be attributed, and which, 

 if not taken up by the legislature, must lead to 

 the total extirmination of the race ; and that is, 

 the want of preservation and protection in the 

 sources of rivers, where fish almost universally 

 spawn. It is impossible to remedy this evil unless 

 you do one of two things, either give each upper 

 proprietor a sufficient interest from the quantity 

 of fish you enable him to take during the fishing 

 season (which at present very few have), to 

 induce him to watch, and keep off" poachers, and 

 preserve the spawners, personally, and at his own 

 expense, or else to provide a fund for that purpose, 

 raised by a proportional assessment, according to 



