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away in its usual course. The boxes are six feet long, eighteen 

 inches wide, nine inches deep, open at top, set in the ground in 

 a double row, on a slope of two to three inches on each box, the 

 end of the one set close to the end of the other in continuous 

 line, and earthed up to within one inch of the top. They are part- 

 ly filled, first with a layer of fine gravel, next coarser, and lastly 

 with stones, coarser somewhat than road-metal, to a total depth 

 of six inches. A piece of twelve inches wide by two inches deep 

 is cut from the end of each box, and a water-way of tin nailed 

 over this, with a turn up on either side to prevent the water from 

 escaping. These connect the line of boxes, and carry the water 

 to the extreme end, whence it is made to drop into the pond 

 which receives and preserves the young fish. 



" ' The artificial rill is in all respects similarly prepared, excep- 

 ting that its channel-course is in the soil itself. The pipe now 

 introduced into the upper box of each line, and of the water-head, 

 the spawn-bed is prepared ; two hours' running will clear away 

 the earth from the stones. The water will be found about two 

 inches in depth over the average level of the stones in the boxes. 



By an iron-wire grating, the boxes can be isolated, and the 

 pipe protected against the passage of insects and trout. 



" It is satisfactory to note that this Irish experiment was quite 

 successful, as might be expected from the skill and experience of 

 the gentleman engaged to conduct the trial. Mr. Ramsbottom 

 has been the first to conduct the proceedings in each of the three 

 divisions of the United Kingdom, with salmon-ova, to a success- 

 ful termination ; having, in 1852, hatched about 5000 ova on the 

 estate of Jonathan Peel, Esq., of Knowlmere ; and more recently 

 he has taken a prominent part in carrying on the attempt to re- 

 stock the river Tay by artificial fecundation and nursing, which 

 we will now attempt to describe. 



" The immense fecundity of all kinds of fish is. well known. 

 They shed spawn sufficient to produce myriads of young. A sal- 

 mon, for instance, of ten pounds weight, it has been calculated, . 

 will yield 10,000 young. But when the spawn is deposited, in 

 the usual course of nature, in the rivers frequented by the fish, it 



