OF NORTH AMERICA. 91 



cient to mention one or two. When the spawn is deposited in the rivers, 

 it may remain barren. If it escapes this danger, the trout and other fish 

 eagerly seek for it, and they even say that large trout will follow the female 

 salmon at spawning time, in expectation of a meal. If the eggs do, in time, 

 give forth small fry, these have to run the gauntlet of innumerable perils 

 before they reach the sea, and grow to a sufficient size to be careless of 

 other enemies than man or the salmon-eating otter. Thus, perhaps, 99 per 

 cent, of the spawn — certainly 90 — is destroyed. By artificially breeding, 

 that quantity lives. Mr. Nettle's experimental tank now contains about 

 5,000 spawn, and all are in a forward state. 



Nor is fish-breeding likely to remain a mere experiment in Canada. Three 

 large lakes — Megantic, St. Francis, and Louisa — have just been leased for 

 nine years to a M. De Courtenay, a French gentleman, who lived a long 

 time in Italy, and was President of the Fishery Company of the Lago Mag- 

 giore. M. De Courtenay intends taking there some of his old Italian 

 employes, spending several thousand dollars in erecting and managing ap- 

 paratus for artificially propagating salmon in one lake, sturgeon in 

 another, and some other fish in the third. The object of renting three 

 lakes at once is that one kind offish may be bred in each, and the staff* of 

 men may be shifted from one to the other according to the season : one 

 kind being best preserved in summer, another in winter. And as the lakes, 

 Megantic, &c, are of large size, as may be seen by referring to the map, the 

 enterprise is one which will make a noise in the Province. The right of the 

 people living around these lakes to catch fish for their own consumption 

 is reserved by the authorities. For this reason, as well as because of 

 the size of the waters, propagation must be carried on most extensively 

 to yield any return. It is intended to supply the markets of New York, 

 Boston, and Montreal with fish of the choicest varieties, to send the sup- 

 plies, barrelled, to the West Indies and to South America, and to erect 

 factories for the making of coarse and fine isinglass and fish manure. 

 Of course, this being a new thing in the Canadian climate, the experi- 

 ence of Mr. Nettle and the ascertained results of his experiments must be 

 very valuable. 



A correspondent of the Quebec Chronicle says that the value of the 

 salmon fisheries of the St. Lawrence and its tributaries ought, with 

 proper care, to yield a revenue of at least £75,000 per annum ; and 

 with a few years' culture, the value would be increased ad infinitum. The 

 River St. Lawrence and its tributaries are abundantly stocked with 

 salmon. It is the attribute of a good Providence to create — the practice 

 of men to destroy ; and they have in a great measure destroyed the 

 salmon and other valuable fisheries of the St. Lawrence. The fish are 

 hunted in season and out of season, by net, by spear, by fork, by negog 

 — before spawning, when spawning, and after spawning ; and thus fish- 

 eries which might supply the mart for this continent, ay, for Europe 

 also, are destroyed by the cupidity and avarice of that land shark — man. 



It cannot be said, observes an American writer, that as a nation we are 



