CULTURE OF THE SALMON. 121 



Salmon breeding at Stormontfield* This establishment, 

 which has been in operation about fifteen years, is situated 

 on the Tay, about five miles above Perth. The ponds 

 occupy a piece of ground which slopes gently down to the 

 liver. The ground is bounded at the top by the Stormont- 

 field mill-lade, which is led from the Tay at a point a mile 

 higher up ; the space between the lade and the river being 

 about five hundred feet. Within these limits the whole 

 of the operations are carried on. A pipe from the lade 

 discharges at a short distance the water into a bed of 

 gravel, from which it rises through two openings into a 

 channel supplying the hatching-boxes. These boxes are 

 three hundred in number, and lie in twenty-five parallel 

 rows of twelve each, at right angles to the lade, and have 

 a considerable slope. Between each row is a narrow foot- 

 path for the convenience of examining the boxes, which 

 are six feet long, eighteen inches wide, and twelve inches 

 deep y the division between the boxes of each row being 

 cut down half way, so as to allow a free flow of water. 

 The boxes are filled to within two inches of the surface of 

 the water, first with fine, then with coarser gravel, and on 

 the top is a layer of stones about the size of road-metal 

 Amongst these stones the impregnated ova are placed, about 

 a thousand in each box. Running along the foot of the 

 rows of boxes, is a small channel which joins a lade leading 

 to the two feeding-ponds, one occupying about a quarter 

 and the other a full acre, the latter having been added 



* A condensation of a description found in the Fisherman's Maga- 

 zine, London, with some additions from " Harvest of the Sea.'* 

 11 



