THE SALMON 51 



charra, Sassenage, Veary, Bourg d'Oisons, Eives, Pont- 

 en-Royans, Paladru, Lemps, St. George, Avandon, La 

 Buisse, Grenoble, and in many other departments of 

 the Allier, the Lozfere, the Meuse, the Meurthe, and 

 Haute-Sa6ne. 



At the moment we are penning these lines, we copy 

 from the pages of a public journal, that this mode of 

 propagating salmon is being adopted on the river Tay, 

 in Scotland, on a pretty extensive scale. As the 

 account must be interesting to all the disciples of the 

 rod and line, we make no apology for transferring it 

 here as it is given : — 



"the salmon manufaotoet on the tay 



"The ponds for this purpose are situated on the river bank, 

 near Stormountfield, the spawning-boxes being sixteen feet above 

 the summer level of the river. The water which supplies the 

 ponds is taken from Stormountfield Lake (but owing to the 

 impurity of the Tay during spates, a, supply is also to be taken 

 from a neighbouring spring), by a pipe with a valve, into a 

 filtering pond ; thence it is carried by a canal along the upper 

 end of the spawning-boxes, through which it runs. These boxes 

 are eighty-four feet long by one foot six inches broad, and three 

 deep. They are placed with a fall of six inches, so as to allow 

 the water to flow freely through them, and are partly filled, first 

 with a laying of fine gravel, next coarser, and lastly with stones 

 somewhat coarser than road metal. In distributing the ova, it 

 is gradually poured out of the vessel at the upper end of the box. 

 The water flowing downwards carries it among the stones, under 

 which it settles down, and by gently applying a few buckets of 

 water at the upper end of the boxes, the ova are taken down and 

 distributed equally among the gi-avel. When the young fry are 

 in a proper state, they are allowed to escape into a pond situate 

 at a foot lower level than the boxes, where they will be fed, and 

 allowed to remain, until such time as they are in a fit state to be 

 turned into the river. This pond is not yet made, but will be 

 finished by the time the fry are hatched. Great care has been 

 taken to prevent any animal entering with the water that would 

 prey upon the fish. Mr. Ramsbottom, from Clitheroe (who has 

 experimented successfully for the Messrs. Ashworth, on the 

 Lough Corrib waters, in Ireland), has the sole management of the 

 Tay ponds. Saturday was a remarkably fine day for the season, 

 and we were privileged in being present at the operation of 

 stripping the fish. When we arrived, Mr. Ramsbottom had 

 already got about 15,000 ova in round tin cans, and he showed us 



