Monition, supplviiiLT food for fish, and providing these with shade against the 

 nivs ,,f the -uinnier sun, and shelter from the pelting rains, the hail and the 



temp' 



Salmon fishing and all fn-h water fishing depend upon proper attention to 

 this matter, and I feel certain that if the true causes were properly investigated 

 where fish were said to disappear from a stream, in half the cases it would be 

 found that the shade and shelter of the forests or protecting border trees had 

 hem taken away. It was said at the reading of Sir James Gibson Maitland's 

 lellenl papi-r on the " Salmonidse " that it was not enough to place spawn and 

 frv in a water ; they must be provided with proper food, and the best means to 

 do this is to preserve the border trees and insure a steady supply of water and 

 food hv preserving the forests from whence the supply of water is derived. But, 

 as before remarked, it is not enough to preserve the present forest. New forest 

 must be cultivated on the barren ranges, and many a stream" now nearly empty 

 during dry seasons, will be refilled and soon teem with fish and food for the many. 

 So far for the principle of the conservation of the forest. 



I will now briefly mention the most suitable trees and their culture. But,, 

 before entering upon this, I must draw jour attention to the important condition 

 to be observed in the management of such forest areas as are preserved for the 

 sake of conservation of water. This condition is density. In the dense shade of 

 a well closed forest are developed all these atmospheric conditions on which 

 depend the greatest effects of the forest in regard to climate and water conserva- 

 tion. The so-called periodical thinning out in these areas should be carried on 

 with the greatest care, and might with advantage be nearly dispensed with, if 

 the economy of the management would permit it. The result would be, besides 

 the effect on the water conservation, that tall straight trees would be reared, 

 yielding timber most valuable for all practical purposes. Nature itself would do 

 the thinning out, and do it in a better way than we could hope to do, while the 

 ground would be kept moist and in a state favorable to the decomposition of 

 vegetable matter. It is desirable, therefore, to frame regulations regarding such 

 forests, deciding the minimum to be preserved of the number of trees per acre, 

 due regard being, of course, paid to age, species, altitude and locality. For these 

 reasons it is highly important that all such forests, whether private property, 

 commons, or belonging to the State, should be placed under the control of the 

 State. 



The different trees have naturally a different effect as regards conservation 

 of water and production of food and shelter for fish, as I will here briefly point 

 out. To simplify matters, we may divide all forest trees into two large groups, 

 the deciduous and the evergreen trees. The deciduous trees, of which, so far as 

 Great Britain is concerned, the oak, elm, beech, plane, larch, willow, and poplar, 

 are the most prominent, have a decided advantage over the evergreens. I need 

 not here enlarge upon the fact that the full- shady foliage during summer is far 

 more effective in preventing a large evaporation, and that the branches of the 

 trees of this group are more spreading than those of the other. The energy of 

 life seems to be far greater in these trees towards effecting our objects, and, for 

 direct border trees to a water, they are undoubtedly the best suited. The great 

 amount of foliage and branchlets yearly thrown by these trees forms a prominent 

 factor in the economy of nature, and their decaying vegetation is full of teeming 

 life and food for fish. 



That this group is eminently suited for water conservation, was illustrated 

 in a forest in Denmark, where an area of firs and pines was cultivated with beech 

 and oak. After a lapse of about fifteen years, a mill stream, which, during the 



