THE SALMON. 



nets, or to abolish mill-dams in toto, in order to prevent 

 the destruction, and even insure the abundance of this 

 noble fish in the waters whence it is so rapidly disap- 

 pearing. Only abstain from killing it on the spawning- 

 beds, when it is in the act of reproducing its kind, or 

 when it is returning to the sea, weary and weak, and 

 unfit for food only compel, by strictly enforced law, 

 every mill-dam owner to attach to his weir or dam, an 

 apron, or sloping descent, of an angle not exceeding 45, 

 twelve feet in width, over which the water shall flow in 

 a volume of one foot depth, and the fish will speedily 

 be found in as great abundance as ever, in all those 

 waters from which he has not as yet wholly disappeared. 

 Even in those where he is now extinct I believe that he 

 could be reproduced by the importation of small fry, 

 and if reproduced, of course, preserved to any extent by 

 the enforcement of proper laws. "While on this subject, 

 I would state, that greatly to the credit of the supervi- 

 sors of that county, an act has been passed containing 

 all the provisions above mentioned, with regard to the 

 Salmon River, in Oswego county, I believe, in the State 

 of New York ; and I trust that the example thus set 

 will be followed, with reference to the Oswego itself, 

 and the Seneca, Cayuga, and Skaneateles outlets, in 

 which case salmon would be once more taken in the 

 heart of the Empire State, and instead of depending on 

 Maine and New Brunswick for her supplies of salmon, 

 New York would ere long be enabled to supply her 



