SALMON-FISHERY OF SCOTLAND. 53 



Now, in the river fisheries, a great part of the salmon are taken 

 during the winter and spring months, when the fish are of 

 much superior quality to the summer salmon, being farther 

 from the spawning time, and the roe and milt being then 

 smaller. Thus, Mr Houy states to the Committee, — 



" Salmon are in the finest condition in the early part of the season, 

 and are valued in proportion to' the smallness of the roe and milt 

 they contain, and are less so every day as the season advances." 



Lord Olive, — 



" The best fish that are taken in the Severn are commonly in the 

 ■winter months — ^ia November, December, and January ; those which 

 are taken in the summer months are very inferior fish, and people 

 are always Ol-disposed to purchase them." 



Dr Fleming, — 



" The fish fall off in value and become lean, ia proportion as the 

 milt and roe increase in size." 



Mr Little,— 



" The nearer salmon come to be in a state for spawning the worse 

 they are in condition — that is, from the month of May they are 

 gradually growing worse till the spawning time." 



And yet it is after May, as above seen, that the greatest part 

 of the fish are taken by stake-nets. This, we think, ought to 

 satisfy those who are of opinion that it is by those engines the 

 whole fishery should be carried on, or who would restrict it to 

 the months when the fish are of least value and in the worst 

 condition ; yet Mr Home Drummond, in his late act, has ex- 

 tended the fishing season from the 26th August to the 15th 

 September, in order to saturate honest folks with inferior fish ; 

 while the winter fish of the early rivers — the very finest of the 

 season — ^must not be taken, and are thus utterly lost to the 

 community, at least those of the rivers in Scotland, though it 

 is not so in England or Ireland. 



There is, therefore, not a single tenable argument or fact that 

 can be adduced in favour of the stake-net system — a system 

 which acts, and can only act, by spoliation of the river fisheries ; 

 thus, in truth, reducing the whole arguments and case to be a 

 mere transfer of property, as has been already stated. The 

 stake-net owners have made a great clamour about the addi- 



