LIFE HISTORY OF QUINNAT SALMON.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20806, 16 March 1933, Page 12

LIFE HISTORY OF QUINNAT SALMON.

TO I'HF. EDITOR. OT Tilt PRKS9. Sir,—ln vour is«ue of March If. '•Bhick Gnat" gives us another of his characteristic letters. For the second time he makes a bare-faced attempt to cover up his original statement ana put something less objectionable in its place. In his original statement he told liis readers thar America it four-yearly' quinnat had changed in New Zealand into three-yearly quinnat. He now ta6itly recognises that the statement contained so much ••balderdash" that it should be purged and made presentable. So he is now putting it iorwaru in this form: 'The majority of New Zealand quinnat return as three-year-olds, and the majority of American quinnat return as lour-year-olds." This is a very harmless statement and so near the truth that no one would object to it. Hut in your issue ol March Jl he deliberately attempts to mislead the public into thinking that i described this statement as '■balderdash" when he knows perfectly well that J did nothing of the sort. The truth of the matter is that the threevoarlv quinnat and the four-yearly quinnat are two distinct breeds, as distinct as two breeds of dogs. The one is no more likely to change into the other than a. Spaniel is likely to change into a. Terrier. We have the two hreeds in our rivers because ihey were both brought here from California, where they both etist in the rivers in large numbers, both males and females, n fact which was unknown to Professor Gilbert because his scale material had come from the Columbia. It is not quite correct to state that the majority of American quinnat return as four-year-olds. In 1919, samples from the Sacramento gave the following percentages of age classes: Forty-nine four-year fish, 24 five-year fish, 22 three-year fish, four sixvear fish, one two-year fish, ana it, was known that large numbers of two and three-year fish had escaped through the nets. Tn 1921, with a much larger mesh limit, and therefore a much larger escapement ot two and three-year fish, the percentages were 44 four-year fish. 41 five-year fish. 12 three-year fish, two two-year fish, and one six-year fish. Californian official reports show that as earlv as 1919 their investigators know all about the three-year females in their rivers, but they were of ocean type only, and in the Sacramento they attain a large size. ' Now if "Black Gnat" will be good enough to obtain the weights of those wonderful three-year fish, the scales o* which were examined by Professor Gilbert, and also the name of the river they came from, it will be possible to compare them with fish from the Columbia, the Klamath, and the Sacramento, as plenty of records are available.—Yours, etc., KLAMATH. Ash burton, March 13, 1933.

A RECIPE FOR SOAP. TO THE EDITOR OF THK PRESS. Sir,—The following is the simplest imaginable recipe for household soapmaking:—Seven lb clarified fat, one lb caustic soda, five cups cold water, one cup ammonia, one. handful borax. Melt the fat in one pot. Put the caustic soda and borax in another tin and add ammonia and water. This will be at boiling.point. Allow both fat and the other mixture to come to the same temperature— hike warm. Then mix and stir for not more than two minutes. Cover up and leave in warm spot for 24 hours. To make an even better job add half a teaspoon of citronella when mixing This gels rid of any suggestion of smell of fat.—Vours, etc, ECONOMY. March .14, lO.'i.'l. TO THE EDITOR Of THE TRKSS. ■Si,- Ir, reply to the request of your correspondent for a recipe for toilet soap, I copy from a small book I have called Trade Secrets: "A dependable toilet soap may be made by procuring two lb of beef fat, two lb sal. soda, one lb salt, one oz of gum camphor, one o* oil of bergamot, one oz of borax. Boil the ingredients slowly for an hour frequently stirring the mixture Afle allowing it to e„ol. warm it so that will run easily into moulds which sho < be dipped in cold water." J. hope tins may be of use to your correspondent,--Yours, etc., AY ONSIDE. March 15, 19:'.?..