SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE. 473 
what is called ‘judicious’ cutting. Some river keepers think 
that their sole duty is to walk leisurely up the river once a day to 
look out for anglers—or for ‘tips’?—but as for their preserving 
__the fish in other and more effectual ways, there might as well 
be no keeper at all! On the other hand, there are keepers to 
whose knowledge and thoughtfulness the proprietor owes his 
valuable fishery. 
Several such men are known to the writer, and have been 
‘on the water’ all their lives, doing their duty thoroughly and 
fearlessly, whether the offenders be ‘ gentlemen’ or poachers. 
Millers say they cannot get the ‘tail’ water away from their 
wheels ; and this, when true, is undoubtedly a loss of power to 
them : but a very little time spent in clearing weeds from cer- 
tain spots would allow the water to pass, and at the same time 
retain ‘hides’ for the fish, and so encourage them to remain. 
There is such a thing as retaining ‘00 many weeds and thereby 
injuring sport to a great extent; but if weeds are left to grow in 
big patches, and only here and there a clear space cut, the fish 
are inclined to feed more boldly, being but a few feet away 
from a good ‘holt.’ It is the angler’s fault or misfortune if 
he loses fish by allowing them to dive head first into a patcb 
of weed. 
The best fish and best sport are always to be had in a fairly 
weedy part of the stream. 
By ‘sport,’ Ido not mean great bags of fifteen or twenty 
brace, but good honest fights with a brace or two of ¢hree or 
four pounders, which have taxed all the angler’s powers of 
patience and skill to bring to bank. The after-dinner stories 
of a triumph over a ‘real big one’ afford a true sportsman more 
pleasure than the bragging of ‘a basket full’ taken on a day, 
and under circumstances, when the veriest novice could not 
fail to catch them if he kept his fly in the water. 
Tuomas ANDREWS. 
[Some further notes on the breeding and cultivation of 
‘Coarse Fish,’ including the Black Bass of America, by Mr. 
R. B. Marston and the Marquis of Exeter, will be found in 
Vol. IL—H. C-P:] 
