" EARL F " AND " LA TE " SALMON RIVERS. 79 



"EARLY" & "LATE" SALMON RIVERS 

 AND CLOSE SEASONS. 



THE regulation of the fence months for salmon- 

 fisheries has long been a difficult one to adjust in 

 such a manner as to give general satisfaction, and it 

 still continues to be a vexed question. Too many of 

 those engaged in fishing seek to obtain what they 

 conceive will be best suited to their individual in- 

 terests, and do not consider the subject upon broad 

 principles as affecting the general welfare. You find 

 very frequently men whose knowledge of the habits 

 of the salmon is so contracted that they are incapable 

 of arriving at any sound conclusions, either with 

 regard to the interests of the country at large or their 

 own, and yet who are dogmatic to the last degree in 

 giving their opinions ; you find others who may have 

 extended their observations somewhat further, yet 

 have not learned enough to escape the dangers which 

 a "little knowledge" proverbially entails ; and again, 

 a third class there are who assume a knowledge 

 which is not their own, but borrowed gathered up in 

 scraps from others, and consequently superficial and 



