Fis/i Culturists' Association. 



this only belongs to the coast where the salmon-trout is going 

 up and down the river. In the inner part of the lakes they have 

 no laws, but there each owner of a farm which touches the lake 

 has a right as far as not only the shore, but out in the lake. For 

 instance, if the limits of the farm go in this direction [illustrat- 

 ing], and here is a lake, he owns the lake as far as these limits 

 go, and if anybody catches fish here they have to pay him for it, 

 and the laws only have that in view. There is another thing 

 I would mention. They have a superintendent for the fresh- 

 water fisheries, and he is to give his advice to all who want it 

 about hatching ; but they have no official connected with any 

 public hatching-establishment, and if they want any spawn or 

 any milt they have nobody to ask for it. They are in regard to 

 that very inferior; they have nothing at all. The most im- 

 portant part of his business is only to look out for not disturb- 

 ing the fisheries in the lakes. He is more of a policeman than 

 a business man for giving advice in the trade. 



The President : I desire to introduce to the Association Mr. 

 Thomas J. Hall, who has taken an active interest in the protec- 

 tion of the Adirondack fishing and sporting in that section of 

 the country. 



Mr. Hall : Mr. President and Gentlemen : I was invited 

 to be present here to-day by Prof. Mather, and I accepted the 

 invitation with a great deal of pleasure, knowing, of course, 

 as I did, that I should meet the scientific gentlemen of this 

 country who are interested in the propagation of fish, and I can 

 assure them that there are none who have taken a deeper 

 interest in it than I have done. I have been a frequent visitor 

 for the last twenty-five years in the Adirondacks in this State. 

 Some two years ago I was up there in the spring of the year, 

 and my attention was drawn to the fact of a band — I might 

 almost call them, of gentlemen, as they called themselves 



