THE FISHERIES. 33 



ance until about the coramencement of June, when 

 the season is drawing to a close ; previously to that 

 period the salmon are all large, and cannot pass 

 these apertures. If, therefore, by adopting this re- 

 gulation, great numbers of salmon-peal should be al- 

 lowed to escape during the months of June and July, 

 our argument is, that this forbearance and present 

 loss will repay the proprietor fourfold. 



We now proceed to consider a very important 

 branch of our subject, namely, the means for pro- 

 tection, and the clauses applicable to that purpose 

 in the Bill. The term protection is here used as 

 applying to the care and preservation of the salmon 

 while spawning, and the defence of the brood on 

 their passage to the sea. Some insuperable difficul- 

 ties will here present themselves ; commerce, manu- 

 factures, population, drainage, in short, all the im- 

 provements of civihzed life, are but so many draw- 

 backs upon the fruitfulness of our rivers. If pro- 

 tection could be fully carried out, that is, if all the 

 salmon which go up to spawn, spawned, and all their 

 young arrived safely at the sea, our rivers might 

 again attain their aboriginal, or an extreme measure 

 of productiveness ; but this state of things is now 

 impossible ; a regiment of infantry would not suf- 

 fice to protect fully, fifty miles of a salmon river and 

 its mountain tributaries. A main object here, there- 

 fore, will be to concentrate the exertions of the water 

 keepers, both as regards time and place ; the fords 

 are usually well known to the water keepers, and 



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