300 APPENDIX, 



impassable fall; consequently, although Lough Corrib 

 abounded in salmon, none had ever been seen in Lough- 

 Mask. Moreover, the many gravelly tributaries which 

 salmon love to spawn in rather discharged themselves 

 into the upper part of Lough Mask, which again receives 

 the waters of one or two smaller lakes, than into Lough 

 Corrib ; and as the capabilities of production of a fishery 

 are bounded by the area of its spawning-beds, this proved 

 a serious check to the further increase of productive- 

 ness in the fishery. Undaunted by difificulties, however, 

 Mr. Ashworth set to work, ameloriated the stream, put 

 salmon-stairs to the impassable fall, and stocked the head 

 waters of Lough Mask with half a million of salmon ova. 

 These operations have been so lately completed, that we 

 hardly know as yet what measure of success will attend 

 them ; but I see no reason for doubting their success, and, 

 if so, a capable area of about thirty square miles will be 

 added to Mr. Ashworth's already valuable fishery, and 

 in a few years' time the fishery will realize a handsome 

 fortune. This shows what can be done by pisciculture, 

 in its broad sense, and a little practical common sense 

 combined. 



