Essays in Natural History and AgricultureGarnett, Thomas
Science
Essays in Natural History and Agriculture
Garnett, Thomas
Agriculture; Salmon; Zoology
I should be sorry to say anything to check so laudable an
endeavour, but I greatly fear that Van Diemen's Land (to say
nothing of the Australian colonies) is too near the tropics to
offer a reasonable chance of success. I think it is practicable to
take these fish there (or at least fertilized ova), but I don't
think they would live and thrive in the rivers of that colony.
Never having been there, I can, of course, only reason from
European experience, but the best inquiries I can make lead me to
suppose that there are no Salmon in France (south of Brittany),
Spain, or any of the countries washed by the Mediterranean Sea;
and in America (although I confess I am not so well informed on
that country) I have never heard of Salmon being seen to the south
of the tributaries of the St. Lawrence. Supposing this to be so, I
think that we may fairly infer that if Salmon are not found south
of a certain latitude in Europe and America, it must be that the
climate of these southern countries is not congenial to the habits
of this fish. I believe, however, that the Trout lives and thrives
much further south than the Salmon; for instance, it is found in
the Pyrenees and in the lakes of Northern Italy (Lady M. W.
Montagu). It is also found in Northern Turkey, and probably
Albania also (Spencer); and therefore I think it is quite probable
that it might live in Tasmania--that is, if the streams are never
dried up and the rivers reduced to a number of water-holes, which
appears to be the case in Australia. Should this be the case in
Tasmania also, I doubt whether even Trout would thrive, for here
in Lancashire I have known the Trout to die in great numbers from
the heat, when, owing to the water-wheels of the mill diverting
the river from its usual channel, there was no stream, but merely
a series of detached pools or water-holes; and the Grayling seem
to be more incommoded by heat than the Trout, and it was one of
the diversions of my boyhood to wait until the wheels of my
father's mill were stopped in the hot weather, and then go up the
covered wheel-races in search of the Grayling that had gone there
to get out of the sunshine. I used to catch them there in great
numbers. However, this has nothing to do with the matter, except
to suggest that although Grayling are very desirable fish to
introduce into the colonies, I fear they would be too impatient of
heat to thrive there. But my object in addressing you is to ask
whether it is true that the legislature of Tasmania has offered
the prize of L500 for the first pair of live Salmon taken there?
Secondly, whether they offer a prize for the introduction of
Salmon fry; and if so, what is the amount offered?
Thirdly, whether they offer a prize for the introduction of
fertilized ova of Salmon or Trout, and what is the amount?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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