SALMON HATCHING. 415 



by two rods for the exclusive right of over 50 miles of 

 grand fishing water in the Bestigouche, viz. 8?., with that 

 which the lessee of the St. Marguarite gets from a number 

 of rods, viz. Wl. per rod per week. Of the two rivers, 

 which are both very good, the former is in every respect 

 the better, whether as regards accessibility, scope of 

 water, or size of fish. 



To amuse themselves or to amuse the public, I do not 

 really know which, the Department of Fisheries have esta- 

 blished a number of salmon-hatching houses on the chief 

 rivers of Canada. I suppose it must be for their amusement, 

 for to propagate fish artificially on such rivers as the Gaspe 

 river, the Miramichi, the Bestigouche, and the Saguenay, 

 seems to me about as unnecessary a proceeding as the 

 artificial propagation of Irishmen would be in Ireland. 

 The argument made use of is that out of a hundred eggs 

 laid by the female salmon in the natural way, only one 

 comes to maturity, whereas a percentage of about seventy 

 or eighty are hatched in the artificial way. I believe 

 it is quite true that by great care this percentage of 

 young fish can be produced, but I venture to say that 

 not more than 1 per cent, of these fry ever attain maturity. 

 They are turned into the river when little more than half 

 an inch in length, poor little, helpless, artificially reared 

 creatures, as food for trout, shell-ducks, and goodness knows 

 how many devouring monsters. But, of course, it is a 

 great thing when brought to task for jobbing away the 

 rivers of Canada for a tenth of their value, to be able to 

 reply, " We hatch so many millions of young salmon in 

 these rivers every year." They get credit with the outside 

 world, and the toys amuse them. I do not presume to run 



