PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 23 



which she has begun, there is still hope that some- 

 thing may be achieved in restoring salmon to the 

 streams flowing into lake Ontario. The Upper 

 Canada government has authorized two or three 

 breeding establishments west of Kingston, and 

 they have been so carefully and so wisely super- 

 vised by its agent (a Mr. Wilmot), that the very 

 best results are foreshadowed. Several streams 

 have been stocked, and already thousands of young 

 fish, which were hopefully cast upon the waters, 

 have, with that curious and mysterious instinct 

 which is as unerring as the sun, returned to vindi- 

 cate their sagacity and to encourage the agents of 

 the government in their beneficent labors. If our 

 own State authorities shall be equally wise and 

 quadruple the powers and resources of our intelli- 

 gent fish commissioners, the next generation may 

 not be able to buy salmon for a penny a pound, 

 but they will be procurable in such abundance as 

 to render them as available as white fish or shad. 



It was this experience of the past sixty years, 

 and the recollection of the total depletion of the 

 once prolific streams emptying into the upper St. 

 Lawrence and lake Ontario, which impressed the 

 authorities of the three lower Provinces with the 

 necessity of enacting some stringent laws to pre- 

 vent their own waters from becoming equally 

 " barren and unfruitful." The first step was to 



