24 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SALMON. 



gather all the information he could obtain, having 

 seen the letter of Dr Esdaile, addressed to salmon 

 fishing proprietors in the Tay, on the "Artificial 

 Propagation of the Salmon;" and it was at Dr 

 Esdaile's request that he had consented to stay 

 in Perth another day to attend the present meet- 

 ing. He (Mr Ashworth) had entertained the 

 opinion for a long time that it would be as easy 

 artificially to propagate salmon in our rivers as 

 it was to raise silk-worms on mulberry leaves, 

 though the former were under water and the 

 latter in the open air. He said that it was an 

 established fact, that salmon and other fish may 

 be propagated artificially in ponds in millions, at 

 a small cost, and thus be protected from their 

 natural enemies for the first year of their exis- 

 tence, after which they will be much more capable 

 of protecting themselves than can be the case in 

 the early stages of their existence. His brother 

 and he have at the present time about 20,000 

 young salmon in ponds, thus produced, which 

 are daily fed with suitable food. In the course 

 of last year, Mr Thomas Garnet and Mr Peel of 

 Lancashire informed his brother and himself that 

 Eobert Ramsbottom, a fishing-tackle maker at 

 Clitheroe, had, about two years ago, succeeded 



