-. in.] STORMONTFIELD. 99 



from the time of birth, so that they require about thirty 

 months to become four-pound fish, by which time the first 

 moiety are salmon of eight or ten pounds ! These are ascer- 

 tained facts. This is rapid work as compared with the 

 Danube fish, which, after the first year, grows only at about 

 the rate of eighteen ounces per annum. But even at that 

 rate, fish- cultivation must pay well. Suppose that by the 

 protected or piscicultural system a full third (i.e. 13,500) of 

 the 40,000 eggs arrive in twelve months at the stage of pound 

 fish, and are sold at the rate of threepence per pound weight, 

 a revenue of 162 would thus result in one year's time from 

 a single pair of breeding salmon ! Two pairs would, of course, 

 double the amount, and so on. 



A series of well-conducted operations in fish-culture has 

 been carried on for about twelve years on the river Tay 

 about five miles from Perth ; and as these have attracted a 

 great amount of attention, they merit a somewhat lengthened 

 description. The breeding-ponds at Stormontfield are beauti- 

 fully situated on a sloping haugh on the banks of the Tay, 

 and are sheltered at the back by a plantation of trees. The 

 ground has been laid out to the best advantage, and the whole 

 of the ponds, water-runs, etc., have been planned and con- 

 structed by Mr. Peter Burn, C.E., and they have answered 

 the purpose for which they were designed admirably. The 

 supply of water is obtained from a rapid mill-stream, which 

 runs in a line with the river Tay, as is shown by a small 

 plan on the next .page. The necessary quantity of water 

 is first run from this stream into a reservoir, from which 

 it is filtered through pipes into a little watercourse at the 

 head of the range of boxes from, whence it is laid on. These 

 boxes are fixed on a gentle declivity, half-way between the 

 mill-race and the Tay, and by means of the slope the water 

 falls beautifully from one to another of the three hundred 

 " procreant cradles" in a gradual but constant stream, and 



