£56 



THE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



factor in the cultivation of migratory Sal- 

 monidae, restricting myself for the present to 

 those species placed by Dr. Gunther in the 

 group Salmones either with a wide geographi- 

 cal range, as solar, truita, and cambracus, or 

 limited to Great Britain and Ireland, as 

 brachypomo and gallivensis, merely pointing 

 out that while touching on the general condi- 

 tions common to the increase of the above 

 named species, the extermination of the Bull 

 Trout on the Tweed and the Sea Trout on the 

 Forth forms a very serious point to discuss in 

 treating of the cultnre of the Salmon, and 

 that the best results can onty be obtained by 

 the careful protection and artificial production 

 of the species best suited to each particular 

 district. The objects here are to increase 

 Salmones whose pastures are in the sea, and 

 whose nurseries are in the rivers. The size of 

 the river has no fixed relation to the number 

 and weight of fish caught in its estuary and 

 contiguous seaboard, and if a very large 

 number of smolts were annually turned in 

 immediately above the tidal waters the stock 

 of Salmones would be increased by a propor- 

 tion of the number turned in, fixed only by 

 the conditions of food and of natural enemies 

 in the estuary and adjoining sea. I do not 

 mean to say for an instant that all the fish 

 reaching maturity would return or attempt to 

 return to the mouth of the river in which they 

 were liberated as smolts, but I think that the 

 evidence tends to show that most of them 

 would do so. The question at this point 

 resolves itself into a matter of pounds, shil- 

 lings, and pence. Salmon smolts of two 

 years old can now be raised at less than six- 

 pence apiece, and Salmon in the estuary on 

 their return are probably worth on an average 

 five shillings each ; rent and the expense of 

 nets, wages, and rates probably add another 

 five shillings, of course if there was a much 

 increased take the proportion to each fish 

 would be less and all the fish that return to 

 the estuary are not caught, but it will be suffi- 

 cient for our purpose it we assume that a 

 Salmon on his road to destruction is worth 

 while still free five shillings two years after it 

 has been liberated as a smolt ; if, therefore, 

 10 per cent, of the smolts turned in are caught 

 two years afterwards no profit will result, for 

 the increase would only equal the first cost, 

 and the interest on the outlay would be nil. 

 The old idea in this country was to turn out 

 young fish big enough (and big enough does 

 not necessarily mean sufficiently educated) to 



take care of themselves. The results from 

 the Stormontfield experiment at first, when 

 everything was new and in working order, 

 were sufficiently marked; but they have not 

 been permanent, and if pisciculture had 

 achieved no more, Salmon culture, in this 

 country at least, would be an interesting 

 exotic, with magnificent results in some cases, 

 far oftener with none ; but fortunately it is 

 not necessary to depend on two-year-old smolts 

 for the future increase of our Salmon fisheries. 

 Mr. Spencer Baird, who I am glad to see so 

 ably represented at this Exhibition, in a letter 

 to the Commission of Fisheries of the Domi- 

 nion of Canada, refers to the magnificent in- 

 crease of Salmon in California, an increase in 

 five years from five to fifteen million pound 

 weight in one river, an expendituie of merely 

 two million Salmon fry per annum, which in 

 this country would entail less than a thousand 

 a year after making a full allowance for all 

 expenses. But stocking with fry or with 

 smolts is but a small portion of the great 

 question ; parts of some of our Salmon rivers 

 are too fouled by pollution to rear fry after 

 they are liberated ; it is only by adapting the 

 means to the end that Salmon culture can 

 reach the highest degree of success. In many 

 parts of the country where the pollution is 

 only moderate, we can meet it by taking ad- 

 vantage of the pure water above or by turning 

 smolts in directly above the tidal waters, but 

 I am certain the surest remedy for pollution 

 is to make pure water pay. It is easier to 

 shake an industry to its foundation than to 

 put something better in its place, and if, 

 through fish culture, pure streams and more 

 plentiful food would displace the black sewers 

 of our midlands without the intervention ot 

 harassing legislation, fish culturists will not 

 have laboured in vain. The Hatchery can 

 supply eyed ova for the redds and fry for the 

 shallows, and ponds should be constructed 

 near the Hatching-house for yearlings, but 

 where it is necessaiy to stock with smolts 

 ponds for the purpose must be constructed 

 near the head of the estuary, as the carriage 

 of two-year-old samlets is neither easy nor 

 economical. The time that intervenes between 

 the smolt just entering the tidal water and its 

 first return towards the river varies consider- 

 ably on the east coast of Scotland ; two 

 summers may sometimes intervene, and we 

 must be careful not to assume that all fish 

 return or attempt to return in the grilse stage, 

 for I have found in the case of the Lochleven 



