180 ON THE ECONOMICAL USES OF FISHES. 



number and kinds of water-machinery, others again 

 to the prevailing use of lime as a manure, of which 

 part is carried down by the floods, and destroys the 

 fish ; but it is now generally considered as owing to 

 the enormous extent to which poaching is carried 

 on during close time, when the breeding fish can 

 easily be destroyed. In order to protect this noble 

 fish, which has justly been considered as private pro- 

 perty, as much so as the dificrent kinds of game, 

 various statutes have been enacted by Government, 

 and these now in force fix the duration of close 

 time between August and January, according to the 

 circumstances of different rivers. 



The salmon is caught in our rivers and estuaries 

 in nets of diiferent kinds. What are called stake 

 nets, are used in friths, estuaries, and the mouths of 

 rivers, and are constructed by fixing a line of stout 

 poles in the mud or sand, at a place of easy access 

 at low water; between these poles is stretched a 

 strong net, conducting to a labyrinth in which are 

 enclosed such fish as come in contact with the 

 meshes. This kind of net is often carried far 

 out to sea, sometimes employing several miles of 

 netting. Salmon are taken at the mouth of the 

 Forth, above Alloa, in bag-nets, which are dropped 

 into the stream or current of tide from a kind of 

 stage or platform run out from the bank. Whenever 

 a fish enters, a man in readiness pulls up the net 

 and secures it. Many fish are caught in yairs^ 

 somewhat similar in construction to stake nets, 

 although on a much smaller scale, and sometimes 



