Report, Sfc. 33 



SALMON HATCHING 



During a short course of reading upon which I was lately engaged, 

 1 cairie upon a certain apocryphal story about St. Peter and West- 

 minster Abbey. It was said, though not 1 believe upon the best 

 authority, that he was the founder of that greatest of national monu- 

 ments ; that he consecrated it in person ; and that the manner of 

 the consecration was as follows. One stormy night, about eleven 

 hundred years ago, when the stream surrounding the Isle of 

 Thorney was swollen with rain, a mysterious figure was seen upon 

 its bank. Beckoning to one Kdericus, a poor fisherman, who 

 happened to be hard by, the figure bade him ferry him across the 

 rushing tide. Awed by his solemn manner the fisherman obeyed, 

 and they reached the little church situated upon the Isle in safety. 

 This church the saintly visitor entered. Muttering prayers of conse- 

 cration he poiu'ed the holy oil upon the floor; and strains of celestial 

 music at once celebrated the act. Impressed no doubt with the solem- 

 nity of the scene, the fisherman yet had wit enough to claim his fare. 

 St. Peter, for the mysterious personage was no other than he, 

 replied by directing him to cast his net to the right side of his 

 boat ; when it was at once filled with a number of fine, fresh, 

 shiny salmon ; and to this good office he added a promise that 

 neither himself nor his fraternity nor his descendants should ever 

 be without a plentiful supply of that fish. 



i fear that, apart from other considerations, one alone is fatal to 

 this narrative. It is I believe more than a century since a salmon 

 has been caught in the Thames or its tributaries. Nevertheless 

 St. Peter's promise, if it was ever made, held good up to the days 

 of the so-called good Queen Bess. For we hear that in her reign 

 it was generally a stipulation in a London apprentice's agreement 

 that he should not have to dine off salmon more than three times a 

 week. 1 do not fancy that such a stipulation is likely to occur now. 



It is the object of this paper to point out the means that have 

 been suggested, and have already proved tolerably successful, for 

 at any rate, producing a more plentiful supply of this noble fish. 

 And when we consider the immense boon it would be to the poor 

 that a cheap and wholesome article of food should be always 

 swimming about ready for their steel hooks, or awaiting their silver 

 and copjier ones in the markets, we cannot but acknowledge that 

 every step taken towards increasing the numbers of the salmonidae 

 is a step in accordance svith the now very general feeling that we 



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