SALMON-FISHERY OF SCOTLAND. 141 



reared. He would restrict the fishery entirely to a few stations 

 near its mouth, and fish there constantly while clean fish 

 appeared, suppljdng the public with new fish as they came on, 

 even at the period the old fish were hreeding in the upper parts 

 of the river, without the smallest injury to the fishery ; but a 

 single upper heritor, were his fishery not worth £5 a-year, 

 could put a stop to the whole plan. There are, accordingly, 

 no rivers in the kingdom at present under so complete a system 

 of improvement as those of the Duke of Sutherland in Suther- 

 landshire, under the able direction of Mr Loch, M.P. But this 

 cannot happen in rivers which belong to different proprietors, 

 and therefore a close-time seems absolutely necessary for such 

 rivers — that is, such a close-time as a majority of the proprie- 

 tors should consider best suited to each river ; it being always 

 understood, as we have already said, that the interest of the 

 owners of the rivers and of the public is necessarily the same — 

 viz. the production of as many fish as possible. 



We believe that one of the reasons which influenced Mr 

 Drummond in establishing a general close-time for all the 

 rivers was, lest the salmon of one river might be smuggled to 

 market as coming from another. But what did it signify, if 

 the fish were clean, from what river they came ? And foul fish 

 never can be sent to market as clean fish, for their appearance 

 would betray them at once. The deception would be seen at 

 a glance ; — as well might a man attempt to sell a black horse 

 as being a grey one. In truth, no salesman would now venture 

 to present foul fish at market : and if the fish are salted or kip- 

 pered, we would defy any man to determine whether they were 

 killed a week before or after close-time, or, indeed, to bring 

 legal evidence to bear on the subject, since, as we said, salmon 

 are as foul in some rivers in August as they are in other rivers 

 in October. Besides, protection to one river can never be a 

 good reason for injustice to the owners of another ; and nothing 

 can be more grossly unjust than to deprive the owners of the 

 rivers IsTess or Thurso of a great part of their properties, lest 

 foul fish from the Tay or Tweed should be sent to market as 

 coming from those rivers. If the Tay or Tweed are poached, 

 let the proprietors be at the expense of a greater establishment 



