Transactions. 15 



g-ation. This resulted from plaiitiug aljout two million fry. The 

 catch increased from five to fifteen million pounds in five years. 

 So enormous had the ([uautity of salmon in one of the American 

 rivers become that they caught them by machinery. There was 

 a great wheel, driven by water power, with immense scoops, 

 and as the fish were raised to the top of the wheel in these 

 scoops they were dropped down a hole and carried away by a 

 shoot. Then the fish were strung together and allowed to float 

 down the river for a few miles to the canning establishments. 

 Two or three steam launches were here employed for jjicking them 

 up. As regards stocking with trout, the case of the famous Lake 

 Vyrnwy, in Wales, stood out prominently. What could be done 

 with trout could be done on a far greater and more profitable 

 scale with salmon That was a point about which he was quite 

 convinced. There was, however, this difference, that trout being- 

 retainable in fresh water ponds could be successfully cultivated 

 by the individual, whereas salmon must be allowed to go to sea 

 if they were to produce the highest results, and this rendered 

 individual action impracticable. By a well-directed system of co- 

 operation amongst owners of fisheries, it was beyond any doubt 

 that splendid results might be obtained. No investment would 

 pay a much better dividend if properly managed. Having instanced 

 the success attending the stocking of Lochleven, Mr Armistead 

 went on to allude to Lake Vyrnwy. It was stocked with trout 

 fry less than two and a half years ago, and during the season just 

 ended upwards of 4000 splendid fish had been taken by fly fishing' 

 alone. The largest fish caught was a little under 3 lb., and a large 

 proportion of them ran from 1 lb. to 2 lb. Taking the catch at Is 

 per 11)., this represented a money value of £200, the sum the fry 

 put in were worth. If the nets had been used the catch would 

 have been ten times as large. Our lakes were adapted for culti- 

 vation in the same way, and a series of rearing ponds might be 

 made for stocking them with fish. And in this country there was 

 gTeat necessity for it. As showing- this he read, amid laughter, a 

 paragraph from Rod and Gun, in which it was stated that at an 

 angling competition the first prize man caught eight trout weigh- 

 ing- 9-|^ oz. In the case of salmon man must step in and interfere 

 with nature's balance. In many cases he had done so already. 

 He had altered the flow of water, he had polluted it, he had drained 

 the hills and so cut off nature's supply for dry weather. Many 



