American Fishenes Society. 43 



purchasing fish tliat are artificially reared. He cannot go to pub- 

 lic waters to stock them, but must stock his stream at his own 

 private expense from artificially reared fish, and keep it stocked. 

 If we have a stream five miles long and one or two farmers post 

 a mile or so of it, under the old law we could not stock the other 

 part of it; but now the farmers buy their fish of a commercial 

 hatchery and stock the ijortion they want to, the state stocks the 

 rest of it, and that is open to the public ; and the understanding 

 is that if the state stocks any of these streams they are then open 

 to the public. We have in connection with our application 

 blanks question blanks so that we can find out whether the land 

 owners agree to accept these fish from the state and will permit 

 the public to have access to these streams after the fish from the 

 state hatcheries are put in there ; and the ])lan is operating very 

 well. A good many who privately posted formerly have given it 

 u}) and let the public on, and we stock their waters every year. A 

 good many others are buying fish from the commercial hatcher- 

 ies. 



General Bryant: Then the legal effect of non-posting is an 

 acquiescence in the public right to fish ? 



]\rr. Titcomb : A'es, we do not claim that we can force the 

 property open. 



General Bryant : But you put the property owner in an atti- 

 tude where he must waive his rights ? 



Mr. Titcomb : Yes ; the legislature can say whether he shall 

 have that $10.00 additional damages. 



Mr. Seymour Bower, Detroit, Mich. : I want to say a word 

 in regard to one of the recommendations made by General 

 Bryant, and that is in reference to the sale of brook trout by pri- 

 vate ])reeders. It seems to me in a good many of the states we 

 are altogether too severe in that respect. In my state a man can- 

 not buy a brook trout from a private breeder and serve it to the 

 public, in a hotel, without being liable to prosecution. Xow in 

 the state of Michigan I have no doubt that within five years, if 

 private breeders could be allowed to put their trout upon the mar- 

 ket, we would have twenty-five trout hatcheries at the least cal- 

 culation, and would be getting fiftv thousand dollars to one hun- 

 dred thousand dollars of good Chicago and St. Louis money 

 every year that we might just as well have as not ; and it seems 



