AND ANGLING SONGS. 369 



such as the Monk's Ford above Dryburgh, the stream betwixt 

 the Caulds at Rutherford and the lower portion of Mertoun 

 Water near Littledean Tower. 



My preference for an upper range of the river is founded upon 

 an acquaintance with the instincts of the salmon, through which, 

 in their choice of spawning ground, they are generally directed to 

 a considerable distance from the sea ; and seeing that the motives 

 which sway them cannot be traced to any regard for their own 

 personal security, I am led to conclude that such instincts are 

 connected entirely with the security of their spawn or offspring. 

 However, I don't insist upon this as a matter of much conse- 

 quence ; and it is possible enough that the experiment I suggest 

 may, after all, prove as successful in the neighbourhood of Cold- 

 stream as in that of St. Boswell's or Innerleithen. 



In comparing the advantages which the proposed mode of 

 cultivating the salmon stock of Tweed (and I might add also, 

 that of Annan, Nith, and other rivers) possesses over any system 

 of artificial breeding hitherto attempted, very little need be said. 

 These advantages declare themselves. The experiment, properly 

 conducted, must succeed. It is at once the simplest, the cheapest, 

 and most certain mode of propagating salmon -that can possibly 

 be adopted. Immediately on the expiry of close-time the nets 

 and cobles are set in motion. A few shotts determine, in most 

 cases, the contents of the river near the station where these are 

 made. For every clean salmon taken during the first fortnight 

 in Tweed, there are at least a dozen kelts, and four or five un- 

 spawned fish, generally in a very forward or mature state. These 

 are secured, as a matter of course, during the ordinary endeavours 

 made by the fishermen to bring the net into contact with something 

 better. There is no cost or extra labour therefore required in order 

 to obtain the spawn. The attendance of one or two of the ordi- 

 nary river police at each likely station, during the first three 

 weeks of the season, is all that is needed in order to collect the 



2 A 



