THE BREEDING AND GROWTH OF SALMON CONFINED TO FRESH-WATER LAKES.

Otago Witness, Issue 712, 21 July 1865, Page 9

THE BREEDING AND GROWTH OF SALMON CONFINED TO FRESH-WATER LAKES.

"We (Australasian) direct the attention of. our acclimatising readers to the subjoined important and interesting communication, extrae'ert from a recent numVr of the Field, upon the question, whethtr salmon can be t. ropafjnred and a"am their lull growth (hough confine*] to frtsh water only. If the facts detailed in this lctier may be taken as deciding the question affirmatively, it is clear that we have open to us a sure and easy method of increasing the number of our young salmon without exposing them to the accidents and dangers of a sea voyage. The following is the letter :—

Sib — In the Norwegian Shytiertidende, No. 13, January 15, 1865, I gave an answer to the question, " Can salmon (Sahno salar) and sea trout (Salmo trutta) become full-grown fish in fresh water?" This question, which, as far as I know, had not until then been satisfactorily answered, is now set at rest by the experiments which have been made in this country since the Norwegian Government beiran, some years ago, to employ me in adopting measures for the improvement of the freshwater fisheries. By propagation it is not only shown that the aforesaid kinds of fish can live both in ponds and lakes longer than is generally supposed — that is to say, from their being hatched until the time they get down to the sea — but that even, under favourable circumstances, they can in the lakes grow to a size larger than grilse, and are saleable ; and further, that they can propagate without having been in the sea. But the account in the Skyttprtidende on this subject was translated, without my knowledge, by an Englishman who has resided some years in this country, and has been given to the public in a work of which he is the author.

As I imagine that the^e facts have not been proved in any other country, and will interest the readers of the Field, I take the liberty to forward you them. I send them to your journal in preference, because you have subscribers in this country who will be able to inquire into the truth of the statements, and therefore there will be a greater opportunity to verify them.

It is generally known that these kinds of fish are spawned in fresh water, where they remain for a year or two, after which time they go down to the sea, whence they return to the same river in which they were spawned. The statement that these kinds of fish can, under certain circumstances, become full-grown in fresh water without going to the sea, has hitherto heen generally denied. Several Englishmen with whom I have conversed are of the opinion that it is necessiry for the growth of the salmon that they should remain for a time in salt water, and in order that they may be ahle to propagate. It ha* been even affirmi d that salmon die if they do not get to the sea within two j'ears and two months. Pro bably this has arisen from want of ex perience in the matter, and too great a reliance on books. When I undertook to conduct the system of improvement of the fresh -water fisheries in this country, I determined to make an attempt to acclimatise these kinds of fish in ponds and lakes where previously there had been no large fiah ,• but before I begin to speak of these attempts I will draw your attention to the fact, which was known here long before any improvement of the fisheries was thought of, that the sea-trout thrives in pouds and lakes without going to the sei ; that if propagates; and that the second or third generation is in every respect, both as to size and shape, precisely similar to the fresh water trout.

The pond in which the attempt was first made is on the property of Vefferstad, in the parish of Lier, near Draramen. In the spring of 1857 a number of fry were taken from a hatching apparatus close by, and were let out there ; they developed tberaselves, however, very slowly, after having grown to smolts, not having attained a greater weight than one pound and a-half by the summer of 1862, when they were five years old; but tnis is more to be ascribed to the scarcity of food in the pond, which was only 1200 square alen (about 533 square yards), than to the want of salt water. Their flavour was, notwithstanding good, though inferior to that of the sea-trout which were bred with them in the same pond, and also to fresh water trout from other pieces of water The flesh of both the salmon and the sea trout was white, like that of all pond fish. On the other hand, the experiments which have been made by letting out salmon fry into lakes and large pieces o( water, where there is more food to be found than in a pond, had better results They attained a larger size, and had b much finer flavor than the pond- salmon at Vefferstad, which shows that want of food, and not of salt water, was the cause of the difference. These experiments have, therefore, a greater scientific interest, and an more important in a practical view. On> of these places consists of two lakes called

Siljeyandene, situated in Laurdal, in the district of Laurvik. These lakes are in connexion with a river, and are abont four English miles in length. In the spring of 1 856, 2000 salmon fry and a number of sea-trout fry, which had been taken from a hatching apparatus at Laurdal, were let out here, a"fl «ome ♦imo afterwards 200 or 300 s-xlmon fry. In the^e lake«, which are at an ( levatim of about 1000 feet above the lewtof the sea, t>i"re was at that time no other kind of fiVi thin minnow. There were, however, a great many insects, and also numerous frog--, as h the case in all shallow water. All these animals have served as food for the fry. These lakes are now full of fish, both kinds having propagated. In the summer of 1 863, the largest which were caught were four pounds and a-half in weight, and last summer one was caught weighing eight pounds ; but the largest sea-trout that has been caught in these lakes weighed only two pounds and a-half.

The second place selected for experiments is the ]ar t -e lake of Holtsfjord, in Ringerike, which is in connexion with Tyrifjord, These lakes are not more than thirty English miles in length, and before (he experiment took place abounded in fresh-water trout (Salmo fario), lavaret (Coregonus lavaretus), char (Salmo alpinus\ perch (Perch fluviatilvi), pike (Esox lucius), bream (Abramis brama), and several other kinds of smaller fresh-water fish, which serve as food for the larger. In the springs of 1857 and 1858, from 15,000 to 16,000 salmon-fry were let out into this lake from a hatching apparatus on the spot. Three or four years after small (grilse) were caught, but in 1863 and last year salmon of from 91b to Ulb were taken.

Th? third experiment was made some years a°;o by a neasant in the district of Storen, in the Sondre Throndhjem Amt. He caught salmon and sea-trout fry in the neighbouring river Guul, and took them to two small lakes on the property of Soranes, in which there had previously been no fish. These -Jakes now abound in fish, and a number of small salmon and sea- trout have been caught there of late years. Both kinds of fish have propagated, not only in the pond, but also in the small lakes. In the pond, which is supplied by a small brook, the process of propagation has been observed, and also the fry have been seen. In the small lakes propagation must likewise have taken place, as they abound in fish, and as these fish are of different sizes. _ The number of salmon in the Hottsfjord will probably alro increase, but a longer time must elapse before it caa be observed, on account of the greater extent of water. It must be allowed that these facts sufficiently prove that these kinds of fish, if let out as fry into fresh water, will not only attain the size of full-grown fish— although their development, as seen, will he much slower than if they had been able I to go to the sea, where food is more plentiful — but their spawn will mature without the necessity of their going into salt water. And if it be taken into consideration that they are quite as much fresh-water as salt-water fish, inasmuch as they remain as long in rivers as in the sea, and in some places even longer ; that they resemble so closely several kinds of fresh. water fish (for instance, Salmo fario, Salmo ferox, Salmo alpinus) that it is possible to cross the b r eed of these with salmon or sea-trout; and, further, that the experiments which are made in other countries for acclimatising fish, under circumstances of still greater difficulty and deviation from nature than in this country — the results which I have arrived at cannot be called improbable.

Having communicated these facts, I have only to remark, that whilst the flavor of the sea-trout moie closely resembles that of the fresh-water trout than any other fish (which is also the case when caught in the sea), the flesh of the lake salmon has also the same red colour and the same flavour as of those caught in salmon rivers, though the fish have bsen somewhat leaner than salmon generally are when they first arrive from the sea. But, at all events, they would have been saleable in any market. Whether the lake salmon will keep its original qualities through several generations, or degenerate, time must prove. There will be an international exhibition of fish in Bergen, from August 1 to September 16 this year, where it is my intention to produce specimens of lake salmon.

In another letter I will send you particulars of the salt water apparatus for salmoa and sea trout.

M. G. Hettiito. Christiania, March 31, 1865.

Bonnel Thornton, like most wits, was a lover of conviviality, which frequently led him to spend the whole night in company, and all the next mornin :in bed. On one of these occasions, an old female relation, having waited on him before he had arisen, began to read him a familiar lecture on prudence, which she concluded by saying, ' Ah, Bonnel ! I see plainly that you'll shorten your days."—" Very true, madame," replied he, •' but, by the same rule, you must admit that I idhall lengthen my nighte."

Melancuojlt Boat Accident. — An inquest was held at Mornington, on Thursday evening, by Mr Candler, on the body of Mr Charles Rielly. The deceased has been for some few months past acting as lay-reader in connection with the Rev James Glover of St. Peter's Ohnrch, of Mornington. It appeared from the evidence that the flecensad had been to the Bass, Western Port IJiy, on Situ'day Kst, in company with Mr Lee, of French Island, to perform religious service, and was returning on the following Monday with the same gentleman, in an open boat ; that when near the island the boat was capsized by a sadden «quall, precipitating both into the water. They clung to the side of the boat. After a time the deceased's hands becoming benumbed, he proposed to his companion that, a3 he was a good swimmer (Mr L?e could not smim), he should strike out for the shore, about three-quarters of a mile off, and bring relief for Mr Lee. He took with him an oar. After swimming a short distance, Mr Lee pushed towards him the other oar. A hail-storm coming on, Mr Lee lost sight of him ; but about an hour afterwards he again saw him, and noticing that he was not heading in the right direction, shouted to him to alter his course. After this, darkness coming on, he saw him no more alive. The next morning he was found some distance from the shore, in shallow water. The jury returned a verdict of "Accidentally drowned." Mr Lee appears to have had a very narrow escape. He clung to the boat till succour came from the island ; he had been in the water five hours, and when taken away had become insensible. — Argus. Volunteering in the French Armt. — It was in this " cloob " that I used to see the officers of all ranks belonging to the regiment. One night, when sitting with my friend apart from the rest of the company, our conversation turned upon military education and military promotion. Until then I was — and I imagine most Englishmen are— under the impression that, though promotion from the ranks is frequent in the French army, the great majorit}' of those who hold commissions hare all passed throug'i the military college. My friend, however, undeceived me. •At the time we commenced our conversation there were present in the room not fewer than thirty fire or forty officers, including the colonel and lieutenant-colonel of his own regiment, and some half dozen cavalry and artillery ofScers, who had looked in to join in a glass of " ponch,'" and take a band at " veest." My friend looked carefully round the room, noting to himself the names of all those present, and then told me that, with the exception of about ten officers (there were two or three of the artillery and cavalry that he was not certain about) every one i-rescnt had risen from the ranks. I could not help expressing surprise ; for, not only were the officers present quite as j gentlemanly in their habits and manners a3the aye r age officers met with in any English regiment, but most of those below the rank of field officers were — or appeared to be — too young to have had time to pass through the orde \l of the barrack-room, and to have graduated successively as corporal, sergeant, and sergeant-mnjor, up to the rank of commissioned officer. There was another subject connected with the French army in which I found out my error. In England we are under the impression that the rank* of our neighbour's land forces are almost entirely recruited frcm the conscription. In former days it was so, but ever since Napoleon has been emperor he has been doing his utmost to increase the number of what the French call volunteers. So successfully has this scheme been carried out, that, whereas before 1848 not one soldier in fifty was a volunteer, there* are now in all the crack corps — Zouaves, Chasseurs d'Afrique, Hussars, and such like — quite as many volunteers as conscripts ; and in regiments of the line these bear the proportion of full twenty per cent., or one-fifth of the whole. So fast are the proportions of volunteer enlistments to conscriptions increasing every yeir, that it is believed conscription in France will soon become almost a dead letter, except in time of war. " How is it," I asked my friend, " that the emperor has managed to increase, or rather to create — for, until he came to power, voluntary enlistment in your army was a thing almost unknown — the number of volunteers from about two to twenty, and, in many cases, to fifty per cent, in the whole army ?" "Simply by raising," was the reply, " the prospects of all who enter the ranks of their own free will, and by giving them a fair share of promotion, even up to the highest grades. In former days, though the theory of promotion from the ranks existed, it was not, except under the first empire, put in full practice. It is true that sergeants and sergeant-majors received their due share of promotion to the rank of commissioned officer, but under the restoration, as during the reign of Louis Philippe, they seldom rose higher than lieutenants, or at the most captains. But under Napoleon there is a marked preference given to young men who have begun their career by shouldering a musket, or cleaning a horse ; so much so, that many parents, whose sons wish to enter the army, prefer keeping them at home, or at school, until they are eighteen or nineteen, and then letting them enlist, instead of sending them to the military college." As my informant finished speaking, there entered the room a captain of Lancers, about thirty jears of age. He was introduced to me, paid me a very well turned complement about the English cavalry regiment which he learnt from my friend I belonged to— a corps he said

be had seen in the Crimea— -and, after talkingwith us ten minutes or so, passed on to another part of the room. As he left us, I remarked to my friend that' he did, at any rate* not look like an officer who had risen from the ranks. "You are was the reply. " Seven years ago that gentleman was a private soldier." — " How to Recruit the English Army," in "AH the Year Round."

Boat Wreck and loss op life on thk West Coast. — It is our painful task (says the " West coast Times," July 1) to record another wreck, on this occasion attended with lops of life. From the particulars furnished us by one of the survivors, it would appearthat the lifeboat Eleanor left Kiverton on the 9th April, for the Hokiuka, and after a passage of three weeks arrived atMilford Sound, with every oar in the boat sprung. There they fell in with another bout, belonging to Mr Hi>well, of Riverton. It was now blowing a gale from the N.W, so they made some new oars, but could not procure any provisions from Mr Ho well, as his boat was running short ; one of the passengers, however, a Mr Pay, of Riverton, sold thfm all the flonr he had, soma 20lbs, which made their stock in all 36lhs. On going down the Sound, they met the Trader, of Invercargill, and succeeded in procuring from her a 2001b bag of flour. There they were informed that the Hokitika was done, and that the Government had formed a township at the Okaritu, so they determined to go to the latter place. They were detained thirty-one days in Milford Sound, and on arriving at Jackson's Bay, had to remain eighteen days with bad weather, subsisting on bread and coffee without sugar. They left there on the 12th June, to go to the Arnott River, but could not find it by the descriptions given them, so they made for the Okaritu, where they arrived on the 15th, after having suffered many hardships from want of provisions. At this point we will publish their own narrative : — ' There we saw some men on the beach, and we tried to get into the river, but a heavy squall from the south-west coming on just then, we broke one of the oars, and with tiie rem lining three oars and steer-oar could not set the boat sufficiently off the shore to take the bar. We were palling her head on to sea, that had risen very quickly with the squall, when the boat was lifted straight over end, throwing all of us out.. Oar crew consisted of seven men, namely, Thomas Hudson, master and owner, H 2 nry Dixon, Henry Thomas, Robert D me', Thomas Todd, John Nicols (a boy sixteen years of age), an I Edwards Chivers. When we were thrown out, Tnornas, Dixon, and Danes, had the good fortune, after struggling in the water some time, to reach the boat, and stay by her, although she was sometimes bottom up. Thank God, they drove on shorp, and, by the gallantry of Mr W. Crisp, of Riverton, and three diggers, named James Hull, E Iward M'Lean, and Cochrano Weir, were lescued from a watry grave. Too muoh exhausted to stand, they were laid on the back, and then these four men, with intrepid bravery, and at the risk of their own lives, rushed forth into the breakers to rescue Toild and Chivers. Too much praise cannot bs given to these men for the manner in which they acted on this occasion. They took off th^ir coats to put them on Todd and Chivers, for even their shirts and boots had been torn off by the sea, and we all, in fact, had lost everything we had. We are sorry to add that Thomas Hudson, aad John Nicols (the boj), were both drowned. It is considered, by tho^e who witnessed the accident, almost a miracle that any were saved, as a sea like a mountain was breaking on the bench at the time. We were oblige'!, however, to get in that river or stand along the coast towards the Hokitika. It was blowing hard frnm the south-west, with every appearance of a gale from the north-west, and then we should have been on a lee shore for sixty miles, and all hands must have perished. Thomas Hudson was a single man, about 26 years of age, and a native of Liverpool. The parents of John Nicols lire in Riverton. We heartily thank Farquhar M'Donald, from the Bluff, and his mates, who kindly gave u<? the blankets from their beds, and, in fact, did all in their power to relieve us. la giving publicity to the calamities that befel us, we trust that it will caution any one from attempting such a voyage in an open boat for the future.' "

We take the following from the " Sydney Herald" of the 29th inst. : — " An enterprising mercantile firm in London, Messrs M'Call and Sloper, have entered upon a speculation for supplying the market there with cheap fresh meat from the Australian Colonies, and with this view they have patented an invention (which is also registered in this colony) for preserving meat by some chemical process, without the aid of salt. An agent of the firm alluded to has recently arrived in this city, with a view of opening the business indicated. He purposes preserving and sending home some meat from this colony, to prove to those who may bo sceptical on the point] that it can be done; and should the experiment prove successful — as those who have it in hand have the utmost confidence that it will— he will open an establishment for preserving fresh meat in large quantities for shipment to England. The gentleman alluded to brought with him a few tins of fresh beef preserved in London in October last, an<* this, on being, opened a few days since, was found to be perfectly good. With the exception that there was no gloss upon it, the meat had the appearance of beef that had been about two days killed. "We are assured by a gentleman who had a portion of this meat cooked and served at table, that its flavor was but slightly affected by the chemical process it had undergone."