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CHAPTER IX. 



LOCH TRIALAVAL AND THE YOUNG GEESE. 



THERE is one point I forgot to toucli upon 

 in dissertation on artificial floods, and it 

 is this : that in a downright dry season you 

 cannot do as much as you would hke with 

 them. You may assist, but you cannot coun- 

 teract Nature. In a regular dry season you 

 cannot get up an artificial flood, for the very 

 springs dry, the lochs get low, and, as very 

 little comes into, very little can go out of them. 

 Very great care, then, should be taken to hus- 

 band every drop of water you can command, 

 and to let it off at the right time — ^.e., when the 

 fish are waiting for the water at the mouth of 

 the river to meet the tide, and the wind is in 

 the right " airt." For, with all the water in 

 the world, the fish won't take the river with 

 the wrong wind, whatever that wind may be. 

 Now, as, unfortunately for fishermen in all 

 countries, the latter end of spring and most 

 part of summer are dry, except in large rivers, 



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