OF THE SALMON. 67 



and their winter into summer, and thereby destroy 

 all probability of their existence : nature knows that 



the fish, only ascending to spawn at that time, are caught by the 

 nets and destroyed. Mr. Thomas Todd Studdart, who has, per- 

 haps, the best capabilities (of seeing and judging of the abuses 

 and wants of that river) of any one on Tweed side, lately, in a 

 communication on that subject to the editor of the " Kelso Mail," 

 says : 



" The opening of Tweed on the 15th of February, as is well known, 

 has of late years been signalised, or rather rendered notorious, 

 by an immense slaughter at many of the netting stations, not only 

 of kelts (spawned fish), bnt of baggits and kippers to boot (male 

 and female unspawned salmon). Last year, as I have been given 

 to understand, scores of ripe spawners were captured, during the 

 opening week, below Tweed Mill; and in the vicinity of Twizel 

 I have known to the amount of eighty she-fish, all large and 

 primed with ova, having been taken in a single day from the 

 Tweed on a similar occasion, and there is every reason to believe 

 that the termination of the present fence-time will be followed up, 

 as usual, by extensive massacres of unspawned salmon and grilses. 

 Now, what I propose is this : that the proprietors or parties hold- 

 ing salmon fishings on Tweed shall instruct competent persons 

 to attend the various netting stations, at the opening of the season, 

 for the purpose of expressing, collecting, and inoculating, when 

 opportunity offers, this unusual wastage of spawn, for the purpose 

 also (not of stowing it away in wooden boxes, over which an 

 artificial run of water shall be directed), but of committing it to 

 " redds " formed with the shovel, hoe, or plough, in the bed of 

 the river itself, there to await, as a matter of common certainty, 

 its being brought to life. 



" In Tweed there are at hand fifty fords where such redds might 

 be scooped out side by side, if thought expedient, at almost no 

 expense, and the roe deposited in them without the loss of a 

 single pellet. A little below Tillmouth, for instance, also opposite 

 Lees and Edenmouth, there are fine gravelly stretches, secure 

 from drought or the effects of large floods, where this experiment 

 might be ventured on ; but preferable to these, in my estimation, 

 are certain portions of the river situated betwixt Melrose and 

 Kelso, such as the Monk's ford above Dryburgh, and the lower 

 portion of Mertoun Water, near Little Dean Tower. 

 F 2 



