180 THE NEW ART OF BREEDING FISH. 



plied. By wise and prudent legislation it may also 

 be rendered cheap, and accessible to the family of an 

 ordinary artisan. 



The salmon requires only two conditions to enable 

 her to mutiply and increase indefinitely, viz., an un- 

 disturbed breeding-ground in fresh water, and an 

 uninterrupted feeding-ground in the sea. How hap- 

 pens it, then, that these two simple wants cannot be 

 conceded ? I will tell you in a few words. The 

 salmon, being a migratory fish, is continually chang- 

 ing its habitation. To-day it may be in the sea — 

 to-morrow in the river — and in a few days afterwards 

 at the top of some remote mountain stream. John 

 Graball, who owns the lower part of the river, rea- 

 sons thus with himself : — " All the salmon which 

 comes into the river, must pass through my liberties 

 before they can be taken by any one else, and as sal- 

 mon is now selling at 3s. a pound, I will let none of 

 them escape if I can prevent it. Now's my time to 

 reap the harvest ; what I leave, any one else, may 

 catch if he can." The same motives and the same 

 feelings actuate John's neighbors higher up the 

 stream, until you reach a point at which the fish ar- 

 rive so late in the season, or in such small numbers as 

 not to be worth the expense of men and nets. The 

 proprietors of the upper rivers then, with the excep- 

 tion of a few occasional fish taken by the rod, derive 

 no benefit from the salmon. They-have the pleasure 

 of preserving them, finding them breeding ground, 

 watching over them during the most critical parts of 



