112 MR. STODDART'S CALCULATIONS. [CHAP. m. 



ova, when carefully protected in the breeding-ponds, produce 

 about 800. This is supposing that one-third of the ova 

 deposited in the boxes perishes does not hatch, and comes 

 to nothing. Therefore the increase in the number of salmon 

 taken within the last year is accounted for. Had there been 

 any increase in the number of fish in the other rivers of Scot- 

 land, doubts might arise ; but there has been no such increase, 

 last year being a bad one for every river in Scotland with the 

 exception of the Tay." 



In addition to the group of salmon-breeding ponds at Stor- 

 montfield, a very successful suite of breeding-boxes has been 

 laid down on the river Dee, in the Stewartry of Kirkcud- 

 bright, by Messrs. Martin and Gillone, the lessees of the river 

 Dee salmon-fisheries. Mr. Gillone, who is an adept in the 

 art of fish-culture, was one of the earliest to experiment on 

 the salmon, and so long ago as 1830 had arrived at the con- 

 clusion that parr were young salmon, and that that tiny animal 

 changed at a given period into a smolt, and in time became a 

 valuable table-fish. These early experiments of Mr. Gillone's 

 were not in any sense commercial ; they were conducted solely 

 with a view to solve what was then a curious problem in 

 salmon-growth. In later years Mr. Gillone and his partner 

 have entered upon salmon-breeding as an adjunct of their 

 fisheries on the river Dee, for which, as tacksmen, they pay 

 a rental of upwards of 1200 per annum. The breeding- 

 boxes of Messrs. Martin and Gillone have been fitted up 

 on a very picturesque part of the river at Tongueland, and 

 the number of eggs last brought to maturity is consider- 

 ably over 100,000. The present series of hatchings for 

 commercial purposes was begun in 1862-63 with 25,000 

 eggs, followed in the siicceeding year by a laying down of 

 nearly double that number. The hatchings of these seasons 

 were very unsuccessful, the loss from many causes being very 

 great, for the manipulation of fish eggs during the time of their 



