26 An Anglers Paradise. 
spawning beds, which will be described in my chapter on the 
construction of fish ponds, they will do well. For a pond near a 
house they do admirably, and are excellent eating when well fed 
in suitable waters. No river in this country has ever yet been 
stocked with them. The turning in of a few thousand fry is not 
stocking a river. Until 250,000 eyed ova have been planted for 
three consecutive seasons, we have no right to pronounce the 
stocking of British rivers a failure. Two years ago, I offered to 
bear half the cost of the experiment on certain conditions, in the 
hope that some large proprietor would come forward and join in 
it, but the offer was not accepted. Until something of this kind 
has been done, it is premature to condemn the fish as useless for 
our rivers. 
The work at the Troutdale Fishery was continued until John 
Parnaby’s death, when I took the whole burden of it on to my 
own shoulders, and finding the available space and the water 
supply wholly inadequate, I began searching for another site. No 
one could imagine the difficulty experienced in finding a really 
suitable place for the erection of a hatchery, without having gone 
through it. However, the right spot was found at last, and upon 
it now stands the well-known Solway Fishery. 
Having secured the necessary land, the first step taken was 
to dig out five ponds and erect a hatchery. The latter was built 
of granite, eighty feet long by twenty feet wide inside, and has 
since been much enlarged. Hatching boxes were fitted up in this 
room, and one corner was partitioned off for an office pro em. 
At this time I was living fifteen miles away, and found that as the 
work grew my presence was needed on the spot, and therefore I 
took up my quarters at the hatchery. It was situated in a wild 
remote corner among the moors, with only one little cottage 
house in sight, and there being no sort of accommodation 
whatever, I did as I should have done had I been in America—I 
camped. 
Yes! a whole winter was spent in that hatchery, and a very 
enjoyable winter it was. Before the next I had built a shanty, in 
which to live when my presence was required on the spot, and 
this has since been added to until it has assumed considerable 
proportions. Whilst engaged in the development of the fishery, 
