CHAP. xi. J JUSTICE TO UPPER PROPRIETORS. 48*7 



of the cure. Government might as well step in to certify the 

 manufacture of Dunlop cheese or Glasgow cotton. True, the 

 brand has now to be paid for, and moreover is not at all com- 

 pulsory, so that curers may trade on their own name if they 

 please, and it is satisfactory to think that they are now doing 

 so in an annually increasing degree. 



The salmon-fisheries may be left to their proprietors ; the 

 county gentlemen, and others who own salmon-fisheries, seem 

 now to be thoroughly alive to the great danger of overfishing, 

 which has hitherto been the bane of this valuable animal. 

 The chief requisites for a great salmon river and a series of 

 healthy and productive fisheries are first, a good spawning 

 ground and a provision for the fish attaining it with the least 

 possible trouble ; second, a long rest during the spawning- 

 season ; as also, third, a weekly close-time of many hours. To 

 insure protection to the eggs and to the young fish during the 

 tenderest period of their lives, I would have, as an aid to the 

 natural spawning-beds, artificial breeding-ponds and egg-boxes 

 on every large river ; and it would be well if the proprietors 

 of all our larger salmon streams would agree to work their 

 fisheries, as was long ago proposed, on the plan of a joint-stock 

 company, the shares to be allocated on some equitable plan so 

 that both lower and upper proprietors would share in the pro- 

 duce of the river. It is needless to point out to owners of 

 salmon properties the advantages and saving that would at 

 once accrue from such a mode, and such a plan would espe- 

 cially be the best way of settling the existing differences 

 betweu the upper and lower holders. It was well said by the 

 Commissioners appointed to inquire into the salmon-fisheries 

 of England and Wales, that " it has been found by experience 

 in all the three countries that the surest way to increase the 

 stock is to give the upper proprietors an interest in preserving 

 them. The upper waters are, in fact, the nursery of the fish ; 

 it is there that the breeding operations take place, it is there 



