AND ANGLING SONGS. 367 



such an experiment, and presents facilities for carrying it on, I 

 have been long under the impression ; and in a provincial paper, 

 several years ago, gave ventilation to my views. After having 

 drawn a comparison betwixt the parr-stock of Tay and our Bor- 

 der stream, in which I gave credit to the first-mentioned river 

 for its better provision in that respect, a provision springing up 

 from the natural bed itself, which quite throws into insignificance 

 the results of the Stormontfield breeding- boxes, I go on to notice 

 the unusual deficiency which in that year (1854) occurred in 

 the parr-stock of Tweed. From this deficiency I took occasion 

 to predict a failure in the grilse crop of 1855. These are my 

 words : ' The parr being at length recognised as the young of the 

 salmon, and connecting with this fact the almost unprecedented 

 scarcity of this little fish in Tweed and its tributaries, what are 

 we to expect next July and August but a corresponding defici- 

 ency in the grilse crop ? ' In this prediction I was correct. The 

 take of grilses in 1855 was up to that date the lowest on record. 

 It amounted to 13,952, or little more than a third of the average 

 of the grilse crop in Tweed during the preceding half century. 

 After venturing upon this prediction, I proceed as follows : ' To 

 obviate this is impossible, but I think any further injury likely to 

 result from a failure in the parr- stock of Tweed may be provided 

 against by an expedient in salmon breeding, which, as far as I 

 know, has not yet been proposed, certainly not resorted to. It 

 is to this plan of propagation that I call attention, as one deriving 

 some portion of its feasibleness from the views regarding breed- 

 ing, natural and artificial, which I have already expressed. In- 

 deed, were I to adopt the notions of some writers in respect to 

 the loss of ova sustained on the natural redd during spawning 

 operations, my project would only appear the more feasible, and 

 the chances of success attendant upon its adoption become greatly 

 augmented.' This was written in 1854, three years before the 

 passing of the Tweed Act now in force, along, I may add, with 



