118 THE SALMON. 



themselves into that firth) ; for the Tweed ; and for the 

 rivers north of Tweed. There is no reasonable doubt 

 that in all these cases the fishing was (at least as to 

 Scotland generally, in the period subsequent to 1828, 

 when an Act, known as Home Drummond's Act, was 

 passed, shifting the beginning of the close season from 

 the 26th of August to the 14th of September) allowed to 

 continue too long or too late. The river that was fished 

 longest and latest was the Tweed (till 14th October), 

 and it showed by far the greatest and most rapid 

 decline. There is as little doubt that the application of 

 the same rules regarding season to rivers differing very 

 widely from each other in their natural circumstances, 

 and in the habits of their fish, was a most pernicious 

 mistake. As a Highland laird very aptly expressed it, 

 thirty years ago, to a Parliamentary Committee, " To 

 prohibit early rivers from beginning till late ones are 

 ready, is as sensible a plan as it would be to prohibit the 

 farmers of England from cutting their crops till the 

 harvest was ready in the Highlands." We do not mean, 

 and are not of opinion, that there is much difference 

 between rivers as to the end of the season the season 

 at which a greater or less proportion of the fish begin to 

 get gravid and out of condition. The reference is to 

 the beginning of the season ; for there are very great 

 differences between rivers regarding the periods in late 

 winter or early spring at which they contain clean fish 

 in quantities sufficient to render fishing profitable, and 

 have got rid in any considerable degree of the foul fish, 

 spawned and unspawned. To speak of " early rivers" 

 and " late rivers" is a mistake, if the allusion is to the 



