404 State Board of Agriculturk, &c. 



demand it, they will be sure to see it lb'; themselves before 

 man\" years. And when, this exigency having arisen, the 

 fanners of Vermont demand that such laws be enacted, 

 then, and not till then, will they be enacted and enforced. 



But with all the necessary legislation, and with courts- 

 and public opinion willing and anxious to make the legisla- 

 tion effective, it is to my mind a matter of very seriou& 

 doubt whether our pul^lic waters could be made as prolific a& 

 they once were. Much improvement, undoubtedly, could 

 be derived. But whether the limited water supply which 

 the State now affords would not prove a greater obstacle 

 than all the rest, time must determine. There is, however^ 

 one resource left to the pisciculturist — artificial propagation,, 

 and confinement in private ponds. All things considered, 

 this is about the only method by which it is now possible to 

 raise fish in Vermont, and has within the few past years 

 called out so much discussion and excited so much attention, 

 that its feasibility or practicability is no longer a matter of 

 any doubt. Experiment has gone farther than this. It ha& 

 been demonstrated over and over again, that the shy andl 

 timid inhabitant of our fresh water sti*eams, in its natural 

 state fearing the very sight of man, and fleeing at his- 

 approach, can be tamed and handled and educated. I do 

 not mean that they are capable of being educated to that 

 extent that the higher orders of the brute creation are, but 

 that they can be taught that man is not their enemy, and to 

 come at the sound of a bell ; become fond of being caressed, 

 and take their food from the hand. The nature of their 

 organization, and the element in which they live, being in a 

 measure beyond man's control, seems to render this about 



