THE SALMON BREEDING PONDS AT STORMONTFIELD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1913, 17 February 1868, Page 5

THE SALMON BREEDING PONDS AT STORMONTFIELD.

(From the Farinar,)

Having, eighteen, months ago, gratified our classical and piacicultural tastes- by visiting Lake Fusaro, the veritable Ach^ron of !Vlrgil, now- transformed! into the scone of a singular, oyster-ibreeditig industry,' we'gladly availed (iurselv6s of a recent opportumty; of rencnvjjng our acquaintance with a Scottish enterprise of which the world—has heard much, and which deserves to be yet moro widely known arid imitated1:1 w<r allude to fche artificial rearing of salmon at SlormontMd. ■■■ ■' ■■ ■' ' J;; '■'■'■ ■ ■ ■-■-■■'-'•■ '■'■-':

Having, at r tho rpeejing of, the Britiaji Association, imbibed fism'uch'science as we were capable.of receiving, as well as a due share of the creature comforts lavished on,uaby.;the hoapjtable citizens of Dundee, we wero called on to decide act to which! of the excuruions, should recreate mind and body, satiated with philosophy and feasting. We -fixed on that Ut Perth, Stobhall, Scone Palace, and

Stirrnontfield. ' :i; '■'• ' !hi:l "' --; •;:--;.'"'; ■•'■'' j, : Waiting for us, at.^tpr^uontfiQklpoi^if^ wo found' SB^6riil Ac« >ihe"-ipnticti^^ipic«K: prietors of tlio T.ay.fishings, along witp the well-known conservator of the Tai, Mr Robert Buistj and Mr Brown, wh«)|e excellent little boojt on salmor.-reaiiog at Stbirrnohtfielcl deserves thdatteotloiiof a£l desirous of knowing the wwfZua opercouM, and the remits of this interesting arid important oxperiin#ntdri fish-idalfcurei; ■ Ji* a specimen of Mr Brawn's sye^ss/aa^anf experimental riatiiralist; we iiiay meiition that he exhibited a hybrid ibetwetf a seatrout and a salmon, of which ho kihdly offered us living specimens.'1 'Among the notables, especiA mention wnsfc of '' Peter pi tlie Pools,' 7 otherwise Peter ; Mackenitei. *fcofce • practicsd acquairitanco witk tho. wajs of .fish, and whose' assiduous. "attenitbnJ fo the swarminf niyriads of young ajtfnaoii. in. J-Imi Tpoms and breeding boxes, have largely contributed to the success of the operaf ions it Stonaontfield. . PeteF is an excellent specimen, of a Scotliah river fisherman, j a lund'ol mitiratttet/apt to be cairerfond of whisky; but maeveHpnsly eiithuaiastic often as an .angi*4?^a6d-«6 thoroughly acquainted with the river that he jfcnows all the resting-plapos of the ealmon—sso much |so that he wiil at once conduct a stranger to one o{ ih^m, with the remark <4There| noo, if ye dinna see a. beast them ye'il "nc> see Mm tho day.'*

In th&Bev. Tfr Kfidjiile's lo Natural History" it is stated, ova, of ftjli arQ fx^edin^ty ;l|fti:fl. and' jfcarigh, and:'a6 >]a|tip a# to wßow|i| frarat the floor lik© an iridi»-TObbi» t -*llkU~^|, beautifulprow^on oJF W^wr, to pret#ni them -'wUij wrosl&d oirinjured byjtJw

stones amongst which they aro deposited. This elastic toaghnesa facilitates the trartspoii of fish ova for tha purposes of pisciculture; and experience has demonstrated that they am bo safely transported hundreds of miles, either by Janrl or water, if carefully packed in layers of .moist 'moss,.or.of rough sponge, tiiosizw of a walnut, and well cleaned. The boxes of ova sent to London from the fiunouß fish-rearing establishment of Htmiriguo usually occupy from two to four days in ••■the transit* whichis safely effected, inconsequence of the French pisciculturists in- I I sisting oil the'observation of this simple rnlo: never attempt the removal of ova till theeyesof the fish areplainly seen intheegg. j Tlie expense of collecting and removfng | o\ ra is trifling. Tiie'Superintendenfe of Messrs Ashworth's Irish.. ; fishings collected and removed X 70.000 salnian ova in the streams of Lough Mask, besides convoying alivo 40 «dult salmon a distance of 23 miles; in a- large tub of water. The cost of this very laborious-looking operation was on.ly Llßy in addition to tho weekly wages of water-bailiff and workmen." ' '

Tho breeding boxes, which" fortunatply are inexpensive also,, are of these dimcr*: sions, inside measure)! lent—sft lOiin long, iJift broad, and Ift deep,- mxd are" formed of 2in wood. ■..■"..

There arc 12 boxes in each row and (10 rows in all, so that theft* are 3GO boxes, filled with gravel and atnall atones to the depth of (> inches, among winch the ova aro deposited, Vivifies* tion is- effected in from 90 to 120<lays, according fco the temperature of tho water and the season. In the artificial breeding ponds of' Franco thu ova come into life in CO days, choreas in Perthshire tho earliest1 ha,vu not appeared ''till 120 day*. • At Stormontfield the boxes aits placed an double ro.wa, with a footpath, 18 inches wide, between each double row, Tho water passed through each row of boxes from tho canal Ktretchmgalong the upper end of tho pond by gravitation, this caital being copiously fed with water from the filtering bed—a vary important part of the arrangements—indispensable, in .fact, in ordor to prevent tho introduction of trout ova,' injurious. insects, and plants,, which aro apt to choke up.the boxes with fungus growths very pernicious to the ova. Tho boxes are laid with a fall of t%vr> inches on each box, or 2ft. on the row of 12 boxes, and the wator passes from box to box by openings or notches 4in. by 2in. in the miudlo of tho division** between the boxes. ' As a guide to 'those meditating pmciculture, the following table of dimensions will bo useful:— Acre.i Imp. Area of filtering p0nd..... 012 Breeding boxes ....... ~ .118 ' Old fu'. ding pond 'J7l Now feruling pond ~.,« .5(>5 Open canals ~ .02."{ Total area under water... I.Hit Everything is suitable except the s«al« on which operations are carried on With the design of adding greatly to the salmon produce of the most suitable river in the kingdom, it m absurd to devoto to such a purpose little more than' an aero of wator, and to bo satisfied with rearing some

300,000 young salmon every ye»r. Ah only about tho half these assume tho smolt oa-

>ect, and emigrate to tins sea afc tho end

of twelve months, whence they begin to return after six weeks as grilses, the effect

! upon tho entire produce of tho river is comparatively trifling. And yet, combined, no doubt, witty other favoring circumstances, the result, in a pecuniary '■ view, is astonishing. Tile shortening of tho fishing season, and the coimuencomo.nt of the Stormontfield operations, occurred in 1853. No^t year ihereveriuo of tho Tay -was L 9209. ■•' Thi* year it is nearly LIB,OOO. " One of the difßoulties experienced at Stormontfield was to discover- a certain meana of so marking -the pond fish that they shall borecogiiised when caught. In " Contributions to Natural History," it is «tated*th;it "tho first expedient, that of cutting off, tho dead or Htscond dorsal fm, ha.*i ? alone, been found'satisfactory. A ' Ffoiicii naturalist has:kit on the ingenious expedient of, introducing madder into thp food of salmon fry, Tiieirlvmes being colored by ifc, they ar# cerUmlyrecognised as artificially reared*fisfh.'V I I>jr Esdaile here/alludes. to M. Millet, who has doyoted; great attention to pisciculture, and w|w«»©» reaosiches on tho thermomefrrieal conditions;of water are of tho highest importance iiv the rearing o£ Hish: P© connived the ingenious expedient of mixing;powdei"ed;in»ddeP:in tllo food of HJilrao)is fry. ThisT BuWanae colouring thei* bones yollowosli'red,, it boeaina easy to - recogniflti tEo fish on whiah. he had' axpecimented. Without mutilating the little fifib, or encumbering them with .ringa<ot nUHr or copper win*, or gutta penjha, as. in this country^ M. Millet lias. demonstrated that a young salmon of "CO, to. 80; jtji'aiiisneß, on its :&&<seiit to* the h©%, weighs wsyetat kilo'gnvmmes ;on j^s.r^tyra. .to.ut,h l e|:,lre6lt..'.wateir. wiihiritaifo^^mon^to.''' :',..""'"" - ■''■.■' ) ■■■•> 1 ?VVe reoommeisdj *' Peteir ol; th«- Poola '* to'-try''thiß;"'appaa^ly-"^^'rii^^i»Oißt' effective mode .of:; recogiMn^liiifc ptotetj™ on thoir return* from the mu>,. Jtthjn* l*een. found ajuceedingly dil&ulfc, evfn under tho stiniulMS of a peeuniaty rewarfi, to induce-th» Tay fishormen fco report tho "cjiptnre of grilses 6v mlmos "bciiiins; tho. Std?»ipntfieWi mark. ' No\r^; it M. Millejs'a, QxpeAieiib b^adopto<l, the^bones of evojry ai-iifijsially soared ftftlmoarsill be a certificate, of tfos. placo of its biHh ; and liuHeSt aad-gentkuuea feasting oaife. flesh, will jjimnltajiecHwly exclaim^ "^kirinont^cld'"' ~":' '■lt'.9oix&) < mw* yf ol suggest blhcr,*kijitlsiof; safe colouring matter,, wioy ihiiy be used in foe2iag? wie ssilinpii; fry of. dUffirqnh rivtars. j and thus we shall W ablfe to throw still more light on tWuu^rafcory habits of saimon % As; itlwj; sngp^stioa opens up a wido, figld pf iiiftoijespni re» Beaaphi, we hppa %c venture t& express tlis)' exp©olat|on. that thoj»<? ado»tiug it *il^t»b pleased | to publisli. tihp^iili- ?t iffli}/Pi feP*ll w*"^ and p>Kwt;caWynaeful if Mto<j»n thus Ndidit^'lyy this iiliflJerent wjors, of U^eir I>oijcß, 'tha* variois.'rlY-irSi. X^/ix^i'cii' ;Krilmo^'b^vQ ! TDccin Wed. * To nwik? thbvti *elf-regtsfcrajf« : 'bf:('thi^V';Wrfchi plaoe >wi)l'aW be, .^a^rce^bk-; ■peni»g,to;,pref# |lio/fay:yalinon : >x|nat'. oj the Tweediihey inaayliftve ii jnvutiutee, ; bettat titan a iislitnonger'n wpr& iliat jthia -■ ~proforenmlui»;lM»n.^itifc^^ mhermen for information *p^iisaii||tlitie , migrations of ialnjon, :sYVffl, ! *g^^ ■ jfiM-'-'

salmon eaten at oar-tables, may supply us with now facts in the natural history of