DEPOPULATION OF TROUT-STREAMS. 111 
Depopulation naturally leads to the important 
subject of restocking. We have in England 
hundreds of thousands of acres of fallow water, 
waiting only for the application of labour and 
knowledge to yield tons of fish food annually. 
This applies not so much to rivers as to the larger 
fresh-water areas, such as are found, for instance, 
in the English Lake District. Here the lakes are 
isolated, and all those conflicting interests are cut 
out which usually are present where sea-going 
Salmonide are placed in rivers. In the district 
indicated, the benefits would be directly reaped by 
those upon whom the original cost of restocking 
devolved. The Lake District, or other Fishery 
Boards, might undertake the experiment. But 
what more nearly concerns us now is the re- 
stocking of such rivers and streams as have been 
depopulated. Streams, as a rule, afford more 
sport than food supply ; but it is difficult to draw 
the line between these and the great salmon- and 
trout-producing rivers. Tributaries are the great 
natural “redds” or spawning-grounds, not only 
of rivers, but of lakes and sea-lochs. It matters 
not whether restocking takes place by ova, fry, 
yearlings, or two-year-old fish — these are in- 
variably turned into tributary streams a mile or 
so above their outlets. 
The artificial hatching and rearing of fresh- 
