94 A YEAR OF LIBERTY ; OB, 



for wear. Since there is nothing to read, we must try to write. 

 What shall it be ? May we assert " the waters of the United 

 Kingdom are capable of producing a weight of animal food equal to 

 the land ? " The very thing : such a theme will do exactly, as it 

 will not take us much out of the road we are bound to travel. 



Some years since this text was one on which I often held forth, 

 till at length my small congregation would stand it no longer. The 

 hearers, less polite than sincere said, ' Come now, old fellow, don't 

 bore us any more ; we all know there are a good many things which 

 ought to be, and are not, and this amongst the number." Occasionally 

 I took up my parable, but it would not do, for my friends, driven to 

 frenzy, were becoming dangerous. Silenced, but not convinced, I 

 held my tongue and retained my opinion. Fortunately, these insane 

 animals are the other side of the water now, so I am safe, and need 

 not fear either horns or hoofs. Well, then, our waters ought to 

 yield as much good food as the land how shall we set about their 

 cultivation ? The farmer's maxim is, "he is the best beast which 

 attains the largest quantity of flesh and fat with the least food in the 

 shortest time." Now, the salmon fits into this definition of '' the 

 best beast " exactly, for he costs his owner not a penny for 

 provender : of course he must be taken care of, but the outlay is 

 nothing in the ratio of the profit. It is not all aqueous farms, 

 however, that can be thus stocked. Those only which have a 

 reasonably good outlet can be so dealt with ; other waters must be 

 filled as the Acclimatisation Society deem best ; I hope they won't 

 insist on too many Siluri. 



What a comfort it is for a poor fellow to find a great man patting 

 his hobby. Now a very great man, in his book on the salmon, writes, 

 '' The weight of ' fish ' produced by the Spey is equal to the weight 

 of mutton annually yielded to the butcher by each of several of the 

 smaller counties." If the Spey supplies the mutton, would not the 

 other rivers and lakes more than make up the beef, veal, and pork ? 

 Of course they would, for in this calculation the king of fishes is 

 alone taken into account ; and it must be remembered that the 

 water, unlike the land, can bear two crops at one and the same 



