44 



COMMON SALMON. 



a clean fresh Salmon shall sell from a shilling to 

 eight eenpence a poimd^ and most of the time that 

 this part of the trade is carried on, the prices are 

 from five to nine shillings per stone*, the value 

 rising and falling according to the plenty of fish, or 

 the prospect of a fair or foul wind f . Some fish are 

 sent in this manner to London the latter end of 

 September, when the weather proves cool, but the 

 fish are then full of large roes, grow very thin- 

 bellied, and are not esteemed either palatable or 

 wholesome. The price of fresh fish in the month 

 of July, when they are most plentiful, has been 

 known to be as low as 8d. per stone. 



" The season for fishing in the Tweed begins 

 Novr. the 30th, but the fishermen work very little 

 till after Christmas. It ends on Michaelmas-day ; 

 yet the corporation of Berwick (who are the con- 

 servators of the river) indulge the fishermen with a 

 fortnight past that time, on account of the change 

 of the style. 



" There are on the river forty-one considerable 

 fisheries extending upwards, about fourteen miles 

 from the mouth (the others being of no great value), 

 w^hich are rented for near ^5400 per annum. The 

 expence attending the servants' wages, nets, boats, 

 &c. amounts to ^5000 more, which together makes 



* A stone of Salmon weighs 18lb. 20 ounces and a half, or in 

 other termsj four stones, or forty- six pounds avoirdupoise^ is only 

 3 stones or 42lb. fish-weight at Berwick. 



f The Salmon sent from Berwick to London are at present 

 generally packed in ice, which is preserved in ice-houses through- 

 out the winter for that purpose. 



