d to for the taking of
Salmon or Salmon fry; and I would give the upper proprietors the
power of making any alterations in mill weirs and dams which did
not impair their stability or the efficiency of the water power.
If some such enactments as these were made and properly enforced,
there is no doubt Salmon would swarm in every river, for their
fecundity is such, that a very few Salmon spawning in a river
under favourable circumstances stock it abundantly with Smolts. A
large Salmon having not less than 25,000 eggs in it, how soon,
with a little forbearance and care, would every river swarm with
this delicious fish, even to such a degree as to be a cheap food
for the poor! But to obtain such results it must be made the
interest of every person to protect them.

In reading over the evidence on the Salmon fisheries, which was
given before the House of Commons in 1825, I was exceedingly
amused by the reasons given by the tenants of some of the
fisheries in Scotland why there should be no weekly close time,
and the shifts and evasions practiced by others. One said he paid
L7,000 a year rent to the Duke of Gordon for his fishery, and if
one day in the week were allowed for close time he would lose
L1,000 a year. Another said he kept the close time, but he would
allow nobody to go and see whether he kept the free gap open or
not. Another proved that he kept open the free passage, but it was
also proved that he had a crocodile placed in the gap, painted
with very glaring colours, in order to frighten back any fish that
attempted to pass. Another sent his boats to break down the stake
nets which were set in the estuary, but acknowledged that he kept
his own nets set across the river day and night. There would be no
difficulty in stocking every suitable river in the kingdom with
Salmon, either by putting into them a few pairs of breeding fish,
or by artificially fecundating the eggs, and placing them in
artificial spawning beds. It is a plan I have frequently adopted,
and sometimes successfully; but in other experiments I have
failed, from the difficulty of choosing a suitable locality in the
river. If too rapid a stream was chosen, the eggs and gravel were
all washed away; and if too calm and still a place was selected,
the gravel was filled up with sand and mud, and the eggs rotted
instead of hatching. I am even of opinion that where there is
already a breed of Salmon fry in a river, it is not absolutely
necessary that any