OUR RIVER HARVESTS. 265 



are full of complaints respecting the decrease in size 

 and quality of the river fish, those of the salmon tribe 

 being most conspicuous in this respect. The complaints 

 have waxed louder and more frequent, until they have 

 ceased to belong to the mere sportsman, have found 

 their way into the general press, and become a question 

 belonging to the nation at large. Even the leviathan 

 of the press has more than once taken up the subject, 

 and drawn the public attention to the dismal fact. 



It is no light matter that all the best fish should be 

 gradually extirpated from our rivers ; and the decreasing 

 numbers of the salmon alone afford grounds for just 

 fears. The salmon ought to be as cheap as the herring, 

 if not actually cheaper. It needs not to be brought 

 from the sea at a vast expense of fishing-boats, nets, and 

 all kinds of auxiliary apparatus, but, if properly managed, 

 will bring itself to many an inland town, and need only 

 the trouble of catching. 



There never was a more obliging creature than the 

 salmon. It will provide for itself entirely. It wants no 

 shepherd, no hurdles, no folds, and no food. Its habits are 

 regular as clockwork. Given the young salmon, and you 

 will know exactly where he is, and what he is doing, on 

 any day of the year. He grows out of his baby-clothes 

 in the river, never stirring very far from his cradle ; and 

 then somewhere about his second May he puts on his 

 first suit of silvery scales, and makes for the ocean. He 

 remains in the sea for a certain period, feeding vora- 

 ciously on the rich banquet which the salt waters pro- 



