32 NURSERY-STREAMS. 



brood, less shingle or gravel should be placed, that there 

 may be the more room for water. At the end of this box 

 a perforated zinc plate is to be placed, of the width and 

 immediately opposite to the flow from the preceding spawn- 

 box next to it : so that the water, being prevented from 

 passing off too freely, forms an eddy in the back part of the 

 same ; and it is into this box that the brood will descend 

 as soon as the egg-shell has dropped from their bodies. 

 Here all the young fry are easily and safely captured, where, 

 if any other system were adopted, thousands would be 

 destroyed, from the extremely fragile and tender nature of 

 their frames, to which a bruise, however slight, is fatal ; and 

 therefore, in removing them from the artificial bed to the 

 nursery-stream, great care must be taken, or thousands will 

 be destroyed. Here, in this nursery, they remain undis- 

 turbed for the time necessary to bring them up, which is 

 from fifteen to eighteen months, and then they may be 

 turned into the river. If the brood is salmon, they depart 

 of themselves, if the barrier to the nursery be removed j 

 if trout, or some other brood, it is best to take them and 

 transfer them to different parts of the fishery. By this 

 fostering system, we know to a certainty what stock we 

 have in hand; and were this plan diligently and annually 

 followed out, we could reclaim all the rivers and streams 

 in the United Kingdom. 



Six years have T successfully carried out this arrange- 



