STORMONTFIELD. 81 



quire for incubation — ^viz. in fifty-six days — while the young 

 fry attain the weight of one pound in the first year ; and by the 

 third year, if well supplied with the requisite quantity, of food, 

 they wUl have attained a weight of four pounds. The divisions 

 of growth of the great fish of the Danube, as compared with 

 Sahno solar, are pretty nearly as follows : — Our fish, curiously 

 enough, may at the end of two years be eight pounds in weight, 

 or it may not be half that number of ounces. One batch of a 

 salmon hatching go to the sea at the end of the first year after 

 birth, and rapidly return as grilse, handsome four-pound fish, 

 whilst the other moiety remain in the fresh water till the expiry 

 of the second year from the time of birth, so that they require 

 about thirty months to become four-poimd fish, by which time 

 the first moiety are salmon of eight or ten pounds ! These are 

 ascertained facts. This is rapid growth when compared with the 

 Danube fish, which, after the first year, grows only at about 

 the rate of eighteen ounces per annum. But, even at that rate, 

 fish-cultivation must pay well. Suppose, for the sake of an 

 illustration, that by the protected or piscicultural system a full 

 third {i.e. 13,500) of the 40,000 eggs arrive in twelve months 

 at the stage of pound fish, and are sold at the rate of three- 

 pence per pound weight, a revenue of £162 would thus result 

 in one year's time from a single pair of breeding salmon ! Two 

 pairs would, of course, double the amount, and so on. 



A series of well-conducted operations iq fish-culture has been 

 carried on for about twenty years on the river Tay, about five 

 miles from Perth ; and as these have attracted a great amount 

 of attention, they merit description. The breeding ponds at 

 Stormontfield are beautifully situated on a sloping haugh on the 

 banks of Tay, and are sheltered at the back by a plantation of 

 trees. The ground has been laid out to the best advantage, the 

 ponds, water-runs, etc., having been planned and constructed by 

 Mr. Peter Burn, C.E. The supply of water is obtained from a 

 rapid mUl-stream, which runs in a line with the river Tay, as is 

 shown by our plan. The necessary quantity of water is first 

 run from this stream into a reservoir, from which it is filtered 

 through pipes into a little watercourse at the head of the range 

 of boxes from whence it is laid on. These boxes are fixed on a 

 gentle declivity, half-way between the mill-race and the Tay, 

 and by means of the slope the water falls beautifully from one 

 to another of the " procreant cradles " in a gradual but constant 

 stream, and collects at the bottom of the range of boxes in a 



