Essays in Natural History and AgricultureGarnett, Thomas
Science
Essays in Natural History and Agriculture
Garnett, Thomas
Agriculture; Salmon; Zoology
In Sir Thomas Winnington's note to my friend, he says we have
difficulty enough in endeavouring to obtain support for one day's
clear course; two we could not carry, however desirable. Allow me
to suggest, that in endeavouring to carry so little you rouse up
your opponents, while there is not enough to stimulate the zeal of
your friends, for it will be in vain to look for the zealous co-
operation of the proprietors on the upper part of rivers unless
you give them some inducement. This one day in the week will not
effect, and besides this, you make it illegal to catch Smolts,
even with the rod, which is destroying one of the greatest
amusements of the anglers, and depriving them of the most delicate
of fish, and for no object: because, if the provisions of your
bill are carried (without this clause), there will be an abundant
supply of fish for all purposes, even after the anglers have
enjoyed their sport. I do not see the propriety and utility of
prohibiting the killing of Smolts, because if they lived they
would become Salmon, any more than I see the propriety of
prohibiting the eating of eggs, because if they were hatched and
lived long enough they would become barn-door fowls.
Let the legislature and the estuary fisheries give the upper
proprietors a fair share of Salmon when in season, and they will
be glad to see the angling for Smolts abolished; but it is rather
too bad for the estuary fisheries to catch all the good Salmon,
and then grudge to the upper proprietors the angling for Smolts.
In conclusion, allow me to urge on you the propriety of
endeavouring to obtain such a bill as will give the proprietors of
land on the upper parts of rivers a strong inducement to support
you, and at the same time that it does this will not injure the
mill-owners; and, with the modifications I have pointed out, I
think this may be accomplished. I speak on this subject as a
practical man, having some knowledge of the habits of Salmon, and
superintending a mill driven by water-power which employs nearly a
thousand people; so that if a bill like yours could be worked in a
satisfactory manner here, on so small a stream as the Ribble, it
may anywhere in the kingdom. But if you make a tinkering job of
it, and ask for too little, you will rouse your opponents and
discourage your friends. By all means go for a free passage for
the fish every night from sunset to sunrise in all cases where
this does not interfere with manufactories, and then there will be
some inducement to support you.
I refer you to some papers which I wrote on this subject in the
Magazine of Natural History, in the year 1834, and if you think it
worth while to ask for further information on the subject, I shall
be happy to give you any I may possess.
* * * * *
LOW MOOR, _July 1st_, 1846.
To the Editor of "The Times."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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