130 THE NEW ART OF BREEDING FISH. 



"I think I hear a little bird that sings, ^^ 

 The salmon will be masters by and by";— 



Legitimately masters, pronounced so at the bar of 

 the House of Lords by the binding words, " La Seine 

 le veut." 



In my first lesson of the date of Dec. 8, I gave a 

 few items of the natural history of salmon. I then 

 promised that others should in due time follow. I 

 now redeem my pledge. I know of no creature whose 

 growth is so rapid as that of the salmon. The smolt 

 weighing between two and three ounces, becomes in 

 three months a grilse of six pounds, more or less. 

 Mr. Young has seen a grilse that weighed fourteen 

 pounds, and one that weighed little more than one 

 pound. The largest and smallest, I fancy, he ever 

 saw during his long experience of 40 years and more. 

 The large grilse must have remained at sea an un- 

 usual length of time, and have been descended from 

 Patagonian parents ; the lesser one must have only 

 remained on the salt-water feeding grounds three or 

 four weeks. In The Book of the Salmon, pp. 199- 

 200, I have written, " This growth of salmon at sea, 

 and at sea only, after having obtained in fresh water 

 the smolt size, depends on three things : duration of 

 time they remain on their sea feeding-grounds, qua- 

 lity and quantity of food they obtain thereon, and 

 hereditary capacity for growth with apportion-capa- 

 city for digestion. The grilse of small salmon, that 

 is, of salmon which never grow beyond a smaU. size, 

 are handsomer, in every way better shaped, and ge- 



