566 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



in that state ; and, in course, until they are unfit for human food. Hence, the pro- 

 prietors of spawning streams would have little reason to complain of such a regulation. 



3608. In a drr/ season, and for want ofjlood ivater to assist them in their extraordinary 

 efforts to gain the higher branchlets of a river, the salmon will spawn in its lower deeper 

 parts. liut here, it is probable, few of their progeny escape the voracity offish of prey, 

 which inhabit deep waters- While, in the shallow, pebbly streams, at the heads of 

 which they delight to lay their spawn, the infant shoal is free from danger. And it is 

 for this security, no doubt, that the instinct of the parents leads them to the greatest at- 

 tainable height, at the peril of their own lives ! Thus far, as to the protection of the 

 parents, and their infant spawnlings. It now remains to guard these, from their native 

 streamlets to the sea. 



3609. The enemies of young salmon are fish of prey ; as the pike, and trouts of size : both 

 of which ought to be considered as vermin, in rivers down which samlets are wont to pass. 



3610. The hern is another destructive enemy of young salmon : especially in the higher branches of 

 rivers. Yet we see these common destroyers nursed up in herneries ! But more wisely might the cormo- 

 rant be propagated and protected. The hern is tenfold more destructive of fresh-water fish, than is the 

 cormorant. 



.3611. The otter is a well known enemy of fish : but more so to grown salmon than to their young. 



3612. The angler is a species of vermin which is much more injurious than the otter to young salmon; 

 during minor floods, when the young *' fry" are attempting to make their escape downward to the sea, 

 the angler counts his victims by the score ; and might boast of carrying home, in his wicker basket, a boat 

 load of salmon. The net fisher is still more mischievous. But most of all the miller, who takes them, 

 in his mill traps, by the bushel, or the sack, at once. 



3613. The porpoise, the most audacious fish of prey in northern latitudes, is said to 

 be a great devourer of salmon and other fish on the sea-coast, and io narrow seas and 

 estuaries. It is asserted by those who have had opportunities of ascertaining the fact, 

 that they not only destroy salmon in the narrow seas, and open estuaries, but that they 

 have been seen guarding the mouth of a river, in the salmon season, and destroying them, 

 in numbers, as they attempted to enter. If these are facts, it might be worth while for 

 the proprietors of fisheries, or perhaps government, to offer rewards for catching this 

 animal, and thus lessen their number on the same principles as wolves were extirpated. 



3614. If it were asked what pufiishment is due to the crimes of such men, the answer 

 would be apt. If a miller, a net fisher, or an angler of young salmon were detected in 

 digging up the seedling plants of a field of corn, or destroying the young lambs of his 

 neighbor's flock, what punishment would be due to him ? This the law would readily 

 determine. And let the punishment for destroying young salmon be neither more nor 

 less. If it is a fact that salmon return to their native rivers, and if the whole of a 

 salmon river belongs to one proprietor, the crime of destroying young salmon becomes 

 perfectly analogous with that of destroying the young of agricultural animals. And it 

 behoves the proprietors of salmon fisheries, no matter whether they are entire or joint 

 properties, to protect the one with the same zeal and assiduity as the other. Even sup- 

 posing this commonly received opinion to be ill founded ; yet, admitting that the whole, 

 or the principal part, of the salmon which are annually brought to market, are bred in 

 the rivers of these islands, it necessarily follows, that the greater number there are bred, 

 and protected to the sea, the greater prospect there will be of the markets being plenti- 

 fully supplied in future. 



3615. If by ivise regulations, formed into a law, the present supply could be doubled, 

 the advantage to the community would be of some importance. When we see the great 

 disparity of the supply, between the rivers of the north, and those of the soutli, of this 

 island, it might not be extravagant to imagine, that the supply from the rivers of Eng- 

 land might be made five or ten times what it is at present. One of the first steps towards 

 regulations of this nature is to endeavor to ascertain the causes of this disparity ; and 

 to profit by such as can be subjected to human foresight and control. Accurate ex- 

 aminations of the Tay, the Tweed, the Trent, and the Thames, would perhaps be found 

 adequate to this purpose. 



3616. There are various modes of taking salmon, some of which may be mentioned ; 

 though it is foreign to our plan to enter into the art of fishing, which is practised by a 

 distinct class of men, created, as it may be said, more by circumstances, than regular 

 apprcnticeage or study. The situations in which salmon first attracts the particular at- 

 tention of fishermen, are narrow seas, estuaries, or mouths of rivers; in which they 

 remain some time, more or less, probably, according to their states of forwardness with 

 respect to spawning ; and in which various devices are practised to take them. 



3617. In the wide estuary of Sohvai/ Firth, which separates Cumberland and Dum- 

 friesshire, there are two of the several ingenious methods there practised, which are en- 

 titled to particular notice here. Beside the open channels which arc worn by the Esk, 

 the Eden, and other rivers and brooks that empty themselves into this common estuary, 

 the sands of which its base is composed, and which are left dry at low water, are formed 

 into ridges and valleys, by the tides and tempestuous weather. The lower ends of these 

 valleys, or false channels, are wide and deep ; opening downward, towards the sea : their 



