THE FISHERIES. 83 



Bat the Salmon ! — there's the rub : he is a fish of 

 roving habits, and once fully formed as a minute 

 creature, in the river, he takes his leave of us for a 

 while, and puts to sea, where ail we know of him is, 

 that his growth is remarkably rapid, and that he will, 

 if not intercepted, infallibly return in two or three 

 months, to the river and place in which he was bred. 



Admitting then, that salmon-fry, can be produced 

 in rivers to any conceivable amount, either by the 

 natural process, or by artificial means ; and that they 

 do produce their young, in vast abundance by the 

 natural process cannot be questioned ; it may be 

 asked what purpose is attained by adopting the ar- 

 tificial method ? — the object attained is, that we by 

 such means acquire a more complete command of the 

 spawning beds, and a greater control over the parent 

 fish, and over the brood, and can exercise that con- 

 trol for the purpose of protecting them from various 

 casualties to which they are exposed in the main 

 course and channel of the river. Thus, by hatching 

 the spawn in boxes, or in artificial streams, it can be 

 protected while buried in the gravel from the inju- 

 rious effects of floods, or from dangers arising from an 

 opposite condition of the river — we mean, drought 

 — when the spawning-bed is often left high and dry, 

 to the complete destruction of the whole brood so 

 circumstanced : both these destructive agencies are 

 under control, if we carry on, or compel the process 

 to be carried on, in secure and sheltered places. 

 This protection can be also continued to the brood 

 when it emerges from the gravel, and for the long 



