) 
4 
that the evidence tends to show that most of them would do 
so. The question at this point resolves itself into a matter 
of pounds, shillings, and pence. Salmon smolts of two years 
old can now be raised at less than sixpence apiece, and 
Salmon in the estuary on their return are probably worth on 
an average five shillings each ; rent and the expense of nets, 
wages, and rates probably add another five shillings, of course 
if there was a much increased take the proportion to each 
fish would be less and all the fish that return to the estuary 
are not caught, but it will be sufficient for our purpose if we 
assume that a Salmon on his road to destruction is worth 
while still free five shillings two years after it has been 
liberated as a smolt; if, therefore, 10 per cent. of the smolts 
turned in are caught two years afterwards no profit will 
result, for the increase would only equal the first cost, and 
the interest on the outlay would be nil. 
The old idea in this country was to turn out young fish big 
enough (and big enough does not necessarily mean suffi- 
ciently educated) to take care of themselves. The results 
from the Stormontfield experiment at first, when everything 
was new and in working order, were sufficiently marked, but 
they have not been permanent, and if pisciculture had 
achieved no more, Salmon culture, in this country at least, 
would be an interesting exotic, with magnificent results in 
some cases, far oftener with none ; but fortunately it is not 
necessary to depend on two-year-old smolts for the future 
increase of our Salmon fisheries. Mr. Spencer Baird, who 
I am glad to see so ably represented at this Exhibition, in 
a letter to the Commission of Fisheries of the Dominion of 
Canada, refers to the magnificent increase of Salmon in 
California, an increase in five years from five to fifteen million 
pound weight in one river, an expenditure of merely two 
million Salmon fry per annum, which in this country 
