276 SALMON FISHING 



certain naturalists contemplated it without much 

 hope. They reasoned that a flood from a reservoir 

 was not the same thing as a flood from the clouds ; 

 that fresh rain-water was highly aerated, and stored 

 water not at all ; that man might bring water to the 

 salmon, but could not make him run or rise. These 

 thoughts had cogency; but, happily, they have 

 proved erroneous. After all, artificial storage is 

 an attempt to redress the balance of Nature in a 

 natural way. It stands to reason that most of the 

 water which is now rushed to the sea in raging 

 floods is waste. The volume is much more than any 

 natural needs of the rivers claim. Why should not 

 the excess be kept for the rainless day ? When one 

 comes to think of it, there is nothing unnatural, and 

 therefore nothing unscientific, in the plan. It is 

 only an attempt to restore the rivers to their original 

 state. Of course, the system which is about to be 

 applied to the Thurso can never be equal to the 

 system of Nature before the lands were drained. To 

 be of use for the whole of a river, the reservoir must 

 be near the source. It will gather only a small 

 fraction of the rain on the whole watershed. Still, 

 it will gather enough to be very useful in times of 

 drought. Indeed, the system will be a triumph if 

 by means of it the salmon can be enticed to run into 

 the rivers at the times of the year when they are due, 

 and helped back to the sea when lingering in fresh 

 water would be unnatural. 



The prospective success of the experiment on the 

 Thurso is more than hypothetical. What is being 



