370 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



ova, and conduct the inoculating process. This, after a little 

 practice, any one accustomed to the handling of salmon can 

 accomplish. Say the redds, by permission, are formed with 

 shovel or plough at the Monk's Ford, betwixt Old Melrose and 

 Dryburgh, nothing more is necessary than to forward the spawn 

 to St. Boswell's station, and thence conveying it to the ford in 

 question, mix it up with gravel or coarse river sand, and commit 

 it to the redd; all of which may be done within two or three hours 

 of its being taken from the fish. Can anything be simpler or 

 less expensive ? Well, mark the results. Here is a quantity 

 of ova, which never could have a chance of being brought to life 

 (for even, taking it for granted the baggits themselves are re- 

 turned alive to the river, the disturbance occasioned by the con- 

 stant plying of the nets across or near the spawning grounds, and 

 the liability such fish incur of being retaken over and over again, 

 make miscarriage almost inevitable), these ova, down to a single 

 pellet, are rescued from certain destruction, and buried with 

 extreme care in a choice portion of the river, where no ordinary 

 calamity can possibly overtake them. The result will be that 

 almost all the ova so inhumed will come to life ; and say that 

 they 'form the supply from only one hundred baggits, each baggit 

 yielding a trifle beyond 10,000 ova, we have at once added to 

 the natural resources of Tweed a hatch or brood consisting of 

 1,000,000, all brought to life at the expense of a few pounds 

 sterling. Of these fry, nearly one-half, without any additional 

 cost whatsoever, is likely to attain the smolt stage, and, allowing 

 that only a single individual out of the two hundred finds its way 

 back to Tweed in the shape of a grilse, the annual produce of 

 the river undergoes an increase of nearly 5000 available fish. 

 Let Mr. Ramsbottom's system of breeding and rearing at one 

 farthing per smolt match this, if it can. 



