44 



that the evidence tends to show that most of them would do 

 so. The question at this point resolves itself into a matter 

 of pounds, shillings, and pence. Salmon smolts of two years 

 old can now be raised at less than sixpence apiece, and 

 Salmon in the estuary on their return are probably worth on 

 an average five shillings each ; rent and the expense of nets, 

 wages, and rates probably add another five shillings, of course 

 if there was a much increased take the proportion to each 

 fish would be less and all the fish that return to the estuary 

 are not caught, but it will be sufficient for our purpose if we 

 assume that a Salmon on his road to destruction is worth 

 while still free five shillings two years after it has been 

 liberated as a smolt ; if, therefore, 10 per cent, of the smolts 

 turned in are caught two years afterwards no profit will 

 result, for the increase would only equal the first cost, and 

 the interest on the outlay would be nil. 



The old idea in this country was to turn out young fish big 

 enough (and big enough does not necessarily mean suffi- 

 ciently educated) to take care of themselves. The results 

 from the Stormontfield experiment at first, when everything 

 was new and in working order, were sufficiently marked, but 

 they have not been permanent, and if pisciculture had 

 achieved no more, Salmon culture, in this country at least, 

 would be an interesting exotic, with magnificent results in 

 some cases, far oftener with none ; but fortunately it is not 

 necessary to depend on two-year-old smolts for the future 

 increase of our Salmon fisheries. Mr. Spencer Baird, who 

 I am glad to see so ably represented at this Exhibition, in 

 a letter to the Commission of Fisheries of the Dominion of 

 Canada, refers to the magnificent increase of Salmon in 

 California, an increase in five years from five to fifteen million 

 pound weight in one river, an expenditure of merely two 

 million Salmon fry per annum, which in this country 



