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tunities of making observations, declares that 

 the salmon is properly a sea fish, passing 

 eleven months out of twelve in the sea, and 

 that when it is only a week from the salt water 

 it becomes sickly and out of condition. One 

 practical fisherman states, that at whatever 

 time salmon ascend a river they never return 

 till they have spawned ; another gives to this 

 statement a flat contradiction, and declares 

 that he has as frequently in summer ob- 

 served them descending the river as going 

 up. One gentleman volunteers an opinion 

 that stake nets at the mouth of a river are a 

 great cause of diminishing the breed of 

 salmon, and recommends their prohibition; 

 and he is directly contradicted by half a 

 dozen witnesses, who affirm that such nets 

 are of all others least likely to injure the 

 breed of salmon, as they only take fish which 

 are in perfect season, and neither intercept 

 spawning fish nor destroy the young fry* 

 In the midst of such conflicting evidence it 

 is impossible not to come to the conclusion, 



