THE NEW ART OF BREEDING PISH. I7l 



I have, in another column, noticed it more promi- 

 nently. The habits of the salmon, as above described, 

 are after Mr. Alexander Keiller. Mr. Lloyd does 

 not always coincide with the conclusions of his friend. 

 Mr. KeiRer is of opinion that salmon fry pass two 

 summers in fresh water previously to their first mi- 

 gration to the salt-water feeding grounds. 



I shall now carrry out my promise, and notice 

 Mr. Stoddart's pamphlet on The Artificial Breeding 

 of Salmon in its connection with the Tay and the 

 Tweed. He does not think artificial breeding neces- 

 sary in the Tay, and of the mode in which it is now 

 being tried at Stormontfield, on that river, near Perth, 

 he has by no means a favorable opinion. He makes 

 the following calculations to show that there are 

 abundance of spawners in the Tay and its tribu- 

 taries, and that the assistance of 400,000 impreg- 

 nated ova, placed in the artificial breeding boxes at 

 Stormontfield is not wanted, and is paltry in compa- 

 rison with the 150,000,000 ova naturally deposited 

 annually in the Tay and its tributaries : — 



" I think I am in no degree overshooting the 

 mark, when I set down the annual number of salmon 

 and grilse which spawn in the Tay and its tributaries, 

 at 30,000. The fact that the average number of sal- 

 mon, independent of grilse altogether, which is cap- 

 tured annually in Tay, approaches the figure fixed 

 upon, is of itself good security for the spawning to 

 that extent, in any previous year. In 1846, for in- 

 stance, there were taken by the net on Tay and 



