42 MAKING A FISHERY. 



advisability of removing it or not should be 

 considered. 



It may be laid down as an axiom that the less 

 mud there is the better will be the condition 

 and appearance of the fish. It must also be 

 remembered that the larvae of such flies as 

 the Alder and the Mayfly require a deposit of 

 light-coloured, sandy mud in which to burrow. 

 The foul, black malodorous mud found in rivers 

 polluted with sewage, or where great quantities 

 of leaves falling from trees decompose, is of no 

 use whatever in the river, and, theoretically, 

 every particle of it should be removed. It 

 would, however, probably surprise anyone un- 

 accustomed to this class of work to see the 

 actual cost of taking out such deposits, and 

 hence the problem is to keep the bed of the 

 stream as free as possible from this filth without 

 incurring an expenditure out of all proportion to 

 the results attained. In any case such work 

 should be executed during the winter, when 

 there is little or no occupation for the farm 

 labourers, and they would, as a rule, only be too 

 glad of an opportunity to earn small wages in 

 place of being reduced to a state of compulsory 

 idleness and consequent distress. Much of the 

 poaching among villagers is practised during 

 this part of the year, and a judicious expenditure 

 in cleaning the river will at times do away with 



