324 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



I love thee better at this hour, when rest 

 Is shadowing earth, than e'en the nightingale: 

 The loudness of thy song, that in the morn 

 Rang over heaven, the day has softened down 

 To pensive music. 



Our readers will readily comprehend our 

 meaning, when they look back and call to 

 mind the " impression " made on them by 

 the note of the lark at early morn, and at 

 close of day. 



Thus passed as pleasant a holiday as we 

 remember to have recorded in any of our 

 Journals. To prevent any possibility of 

 a misconception, let us here significantly 

 add, that Mr. Wollaston's snug retreat is 

 NOT thrown open to the public. His grounds 

 are strictly private, and our privilege of 

 entree was accorded us by the rights of 

 hospitality only. We name this, in order 

 that the privacy of Mr. Wollaston and his 

 family may not be invaded by undue curio- 

 sity. — Verbum sat. 



POPULAR DISCUSSIONS.* 



No. III.— THE SALMON. 



(Concluded from page 310.) 

 The writer in the Dublin University 

 Magazine, to which we have already alluded, 

 has one very good suggestion, namely — that 

 no net shall be allowed that will hold a fish 

 of less than 51bs. weight ; this would supply 

 a large quantity of breeding fish, supposing 

 that these fish could be protected when 

 spawning ; but, as I have previously re- 

 marked, unless the upper proprietors were 

 allowed a good supply of 101b. fish the 5 •• 

 pounders would not have much chance of 

 returning to the sea again. 



Another suggestion is to prohibit the kill- 

 ing of salmon fry, even with rod and line ; 

 but, setting aside the impossibility of enforcing 

 such a law, I see no more reason for prohibit- 

 ing the catching of these fish (the most deli- 

 cate eating of all fish, in my estimation), 

 because they might, if they lived, become 

 salmon, than I do for prohibiting the eating 

 of eggs, because, if they were not eaten, they 

 might be barn-door fowls some day or other. 

 It is very desirable that the passage of 

 salmon over weirs and waterfalls should be 

 facilitated by every means which does not in- 

 terfere with what is of still more importance 



* Under this head, we invite Contributions 

 similar to the present. The advent of our 

 Journal is, we know, hailed with delight by 

 many who take an intense interest in matters of 

 the kind ; and it finds its way into so very many 

 channels at home and abroad, that the Discus- 

 sions likely to take place give promise of much 

 profitable as well as instructive entertainment. 

 Our columns are open to debate; hut conciseness 

 is recommended on all occasions. — Ed. K. J. 



— the efficiency of the water-power for manu- 

 factures. On this subject I can speak with 

 great confidence, as I have studied it for 

 many years, and I have no hesitation in say- 

 ing that there are few weirs which I have 

 seen which could not be altered so as greatly 

 to facilitate the passage of the salmon over 

 them, and that without impairing the effici- 

 ency of the water power. 



Another practice which ought to be put 

 down with great severity, is that of fishing 

 with salmon roe ; it is so destructive a bait 

 for trout, when properly prepared, that it is 

 in great request by all pot-hunting fishermen, 

 and sells as high as 5s. per lb. With it a 

 man may clear a pool of every trout it con- 

 tains. A young friend of mine, who had 

 heard of the excellence of salmon-roe as a 

 bait, worried me when he came to visit me 

 to procure some for him. I got him as much 

 as a wine-glass would hold. On seeing him 

 again sometime after, I asked how the salmon- 

 roe had succeeded? He said, " Do get me 

 some more ; with that you gave me I killed 

 eighty trout; each grain of it caught a 

 fish." 



The high price at which salmon-roe sells, 

 gives a great stimulus to the poachers ; the 

 roe produced by a large salmon being worth 

 three or four times the value of the fish ; and 

 scarce as salmon are in this neighborhood, 

 I have just heard of a poacher, who has, or 

 had, a few days ago, nine or ten pounds of 

 this potted roe, of itself sufficient, if duly 

 hatched, to stock the whole river with 

 salmon. 



I am very much afraid that there will be 

 nothing effectually done to remedy this state 

 of affairs, because the parties who interest 

 themselves to obtain a change in the law are 

 chiefly the proprietors of the fisheries at the 

 mouths of the rivers, who, like Sancho Panza, 

 when he was ordered to whip himself for 

 penance, laid on very gently. An article in 

 the Daily News, of a short time ago, seems 

 to make this sufficiently apparent. I quote 

 the Daily News for what follows : — 



In 1849, the House of Commons, on the mo- 

 tion of Mr. Anstey, appointed a Committee to 

 inquire into the state of the inland fisheries of 

 Ireland ; the obstructions which hinder the en- 

 joyment of the same, and the best mode of re- 

 moving these obstructions. The Committee, after 

 a laborious investigation, presented their report 

 to the House; in that report the state of the fishe- 

 ries is described to be most languishing, and the 

 causes of decline are pointed out; it is shown that 

 the rights of fishing have everywhere been 

 usurped by private and illegal monopoly, and the 

 law has by common consent been suffered to fall 

 into desuetude; that the proprietors of these ille- 

 gal fisheries have been suffered to employ illegal 

 engines of every kind to insure the largest possible 

 amount of destruction ; whilst on the other hand, 

 the poor debarred of their common right, have 

 practised reprisals wherever they dared, poach- 



