of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



141 



expended nearly £300 in seeding, and about 8000 baskets were got 

 from the shore, and dredged from the river. 



(4) . Inch Burn Bed. — Since previous Report two crops of mussels 

 have been taken from this ground. The stock which was on this bed at 

 the time of my first visit in 1889 was removed from it within a year, 

 and a new lot of seed was sown in 1890. These mussels took from 

 three to four years to become large and fat enough for bait. As laid 

 down in 1890, they amounted to 2000 baskets, and about 6000 baskets 

 were obtained from this, most of them in the season 1893-94, and the 

 remainder of them in the past season. It is now again covered with 

 1894 seed, which should be ready for lifting in the course of the next 

 three years. The ground here is better than it has been for several years, 

 which is accounted for by the fact that before the last crop of mussels it 

 had lain fallow for three years. 



(5) . Big Bank. — The increase in breadth noticed in the former Report 

 has not continued. The increase or diminution of a bank may be 

 regulated to a moderate degree by diverting the stream by the aid of 

 obstacles, so placed that the current is made to wear away portion of the 

 bank when a diminution in size is desired, or to carve away material from 

 a neighbouring bank and throw it towards the bank to be increased. 

 The small weir-like obstruction in the channel of the South Esk, above 

 the Broadwater Bank, serves to protect this latter bank at the expense of 

 the Big Bank. No increase in breadth can be made to the Big Bank, 

 at least on the side next the Broadwater Bank. Between 1889 and 

 1893, it was fully stocked with mussels, but in the last mentioned year 

 two-thirds of its area was stripped, and the remaining mussels were 

 lifted in 1894. At present, about one-fourth of its surface at the upper 

 end is covered with mussels transferred from the scalp in 1894. The 

 rest of it, viz. three-fourths, is lying fallow, but if seed were obtainable 

 it would also be covered, as it is in good condition to grow and fatten 

 mussels. The society, however, lacks a supply of seed at present. 



(6) . Guano Bank. — This bank maintains much the same size as in 

 1889, but the lower end of it may diminish in extent by the encroach- 

 ment of the South Esk towards the south. It is in parts somewhat too 

 high for mussel growth and two-thirds of its extent is fallow, the 

 remaining third being covered with mussels. If there had been a dearth 

 of storage ground for the crop of the Fishermen's Society, it might 

 probably have been utilised for this purpose, but at present, as the stocks 

 are low this is not necessary. 



(7) . Middle Bank. — This bank is empty at present, but should be 

 sufficiently worn down so as to be fit to carry mussels in 1896. The 

 fishermen of Ferry den and Usan were supplied from this bank during 

 the winter of 1893-94, but it did not afford them along with the mussels 

 obtainable from the other banks of the society, a quantity sufficient to 

 meet their bait requirements. 



(8) . Salthouse Bank. — This is still the best growing bank of the 

 society, and mussels mature on it three years after being laid down as 

 seed. The mussels, which were on it in 1890, were removed from it for 

 bait in 1893. At ordinary times the increase in height by the accumula- 

 tion of mud by the mussels, compels the superintendent to let it remain 

 fallow in ordinary course for two or three years. When I visited it at 

 the end of 1893, it was being cleaned, but the north east gale immediately 



