6 HISTORY OF HOWIETOUN. 



a superfluous expression in the parlance of fishermen." But the 

 fact that salmon reared from the eggs of wild fish have bred for 

 two consecutive seasons at Howietoun shows that they will not 

 only feed in fresh water, but that they will feed and fatten in 

 fresh water under artificial conditions. 



In the autumn of 1874 I placed a male sea-trout kelt in a 

 Francis box in the wood at Craigend, and fed the fish on liver and 

 worms. It rapidly improved in condition, and I regret I did not 

 weigh the fish before and after the experiment. It eventually 

 met its death from the hardness of the winter through the water 

 in the box freezing solid ; but the fattening of a sea-trout kelt in 

 a confined stew in the middle of a severe winter proved absolutely 

 that S. trutta at least had no disinclination to feed in fresh water 

 after spawning. 



In the case of the Howietoun experiments with S. solar it is 

 open to argument that the fish, never having been to the sea, 

 were under conditions so artificial that the fact of their spawning 

 two successive seasons proves nothing conclusively as regards wild 

 fish ; but the answer is, it is far stronger evidence than any 

 hitherto adduced by the other side, and it is hoped to carry out a 

 set of experiments with large salmon kelts during next season 

 which will set the question at rest for all time coming. 



These experiments are very costly, and until the Fishery was 

 completed it was not thought advisable to incur an expenditure 

 of between 100 and 200 to set at rest what former experiments 

 had reduced to a purely academic question. 



The experiments in hybridism and embryology which have 

 been conducted at Howietoun will be fully considered in the 

 latter portion of this work, and from their scientific nature cannot 

 be properly discussed in this introductory chapter. The creation 

 of the fishery, as it proceeded from year to year, is minutely 

 recorded in the ensuing chapters. Woodcuts, carefully drawn to 

 scale, are given, showing plans and sections of most of the appa- 

 ratus used, and of the various buildings and ponds, so that the 

 conditions under which the Fishery has been carried on may be 

 easily understood. 



