STOKMONTFIELD EXPERIMENT. 121 



tected state of the place, and the great temptation 

 there was to persons who live by poaching to 

 make a few shillings by the sale of the fish, we 

 were not at all astonished. The fish had grown 

 marketable, and that they were in the pond was 

 well known to many people in Stonehaven, and 

 this circumstance could not escape the notice of 

 these lawless characters. Had we only been able 

 to get one of them to preserve, so as to show 

 the history of the fish under artificial culture 

 from the ova to the grilse our labour would 

 have been repaid ; but as it turned out, the experi- 

 ment was a failure, as the fruits of it could not 

 be made patent. We learn, however, from it, a 

 fact well known already that the sinoults of the 

 salmon grow much more rapidly in the salt than 

 in the fresh water, and that this is chiefly owing 

 to the abundance and variety of food contained in 

 the former, and, further, that it is possible to 

 rear the fish up to the grilse state artificially. 

 The little river of Cowie, upon which these ponds 

 are situated, belongs to the heirs of the late 

 Alexander Baird, Esq. It was at one time 

 swarming with salmon, but since 1825 there 

 has been a stake-net at its mouth; besides, on 

 looking seaward, the black bladders of bag-nets 



