SALMON AND PISCICULTURE. 



THE popular mind in this country has of late become much 

 more alive to the charming occupation to be found in the 

 study of natural history. We find a new proof of this 

 in the contents of a number of the ' Quarterly Keview.' 

 There are no less than three articles, respectively en- 

 titled "Ferns and their Portraits," "Eats," "The Sal- 

 mon/' The last of these attracted our attention, as 

 well as that of a learned pisciculturist, who thus wrote 

 to us : " A good article should, I take it, resemble a 

 good trouting stream be rapid and sparkling, but 

 never shallow, and have occasional pools of thought." 

 We are quite willing to admit that these, to a consid- 

 erable extent, are the characteristics of the article in 

 the * Quarterly.' We hope, however, that this " Triton 

 among the minnows" will not swallow up us small -fry 

 for presuming to hint that he is fairly among the shal- 

 lows when thus rapidly arriving at the conclusion that 

 pisciculture will not pay. " The peculiarity of pisciculture 

 as applied to salmon is, that, as soon as you have 

 brought your progeny past the perils of birth and in- 

 fancy, you must let them forth to the world of waters 

 without the millionth part of a chance that they will ever 

 return to reward their early benefactors." Are natu- 

 ralists, then, we ask, romancing when they describe 

 the unfailing return of the salmon to its native river ? 



