PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 



their spawning beds would have insured their an- 

 nual return without at all impeding " the march 

 of improvement." But this simple provision was 

 neglected (if thought of), and what with the net 

 and spear and the poisonous substances introduced 

 into the waters, the places which once knew the 

 salmon in the greatest profusion will now know 

 them no more forever unless, indeed, the more 

 perfect knowledge we now have of what is needful 

 to restore the waste places on our inland waters 

 shall be brought into practical use by individual 

 enterprise or by governmental interposition. 



Something is being done in this direction by 

 our own State, but so parsimoniously and upon so 

 petty a scale that very little can be accomplished. 

 Our legislators, however, may do better as they 

 grow wiser, although our inland fisheries may never 

 become what they have been. There are difficul- 

 ties in the way which neither care, science nor 

 liberality can overcome. But enough may be 

 accomplished, at a cost which would be voted a 

 mere bagatelle when contrasted with the results, 

 to bring back to the waters of our State a moderate 

 abundance of this delicious fish, for which we are 

 now dependent, for the most part, upon the dis- 

 tant provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick and 

 Nova Scotia. Indeed, even though New York 

 should continue to creep in the laggard way in 



