CHAP. III.] 



CONSTRUCTION OF THE PONDS. 



101 



being run off into the Tay, so that an equable supply is 

 invariably kept up. It also serves for an outlet to the fish 

 when it is deemed expedient to send them out to try their 

 fortune in the greater deep near at hand, and for which their 

 pond experience has been a mode of preparation. The 

 planning of the boxes, ponds, sluices, etc., has been accom- 

 plished with great ingenuity ; and one can only regret that 

 the whole apparatus is not three times the size, so that the 

 Tay proprietors might breed annually a million of salmon, 

 which would add largely to the productiveness of that river, 

 and of course aid in increasing the rental. 



For the purpose of showing the level of the pond at Stor- 

 montfield I beg to introduce what the French people call " a 

 profile." 



PROFILE OF STOEMONTFIELD SALMON-BREEDING PONDS. 



A. Source of water-supply. 



B. Pond from which to filter water 



on boxes. 



C. Egg-boxes. 



D. Pond for young fish. 

 B. River Tay. 



The salmon-breeding operations at Stormontfield originated 

 at a meeting of the proprietors of the river Tay held in July 

 1852, when a communication by Dr. Eisdale was read on the 

 subject of artificial propagation ; and Mr. Thomas Ash worth of 

 Poynton detailed the experiments which had been conducted 

 at his Irish fisheries. This gentleman, who takes a great and 

 practical interest in all matters relating to fisheries and the 

 breeding of fish and to whom I am greatly indebted for 

 practical information said that he had long entertained the 

 opinion that it would be quite as easy to propagate salmon 



