62 Fortieth Annual Meeting 



Mr. it. F. Hurlbut, East Freetown, Mass. : Perhaps I 

 am an interested party, but I can bring you a little informa- 

 tion from the men who sell the trout on the market here. 

 They say it is a fact that after the first of January trout 

 are brought into New York and are disposed of in various 

 places, without danger to the man that puts them here, and 

 these fish come, of course, from our private hatcheries. 

 Now does this Society think we ought to be compelled to 

 furnish trout here on the market against the law in response 

 to the public demand? My product should have a free 

 market as well as any other product. We take the eggs and 

 we raise the fish. Tn Massachusetts a year ago last May a 

 law was passed relative to the sale of trout and now we put 

 trout on the market in Boston the year round with the ex- 

 ception of six weeks. This year we expect to put them on 

 the market every week in the year, because the public 

 wants them. 



The Massachusetts law requires us to tag every trout that 

 goes to the Boston market. We have a number and the 

 officials have it, and if desirable they can trace the trout 

 directly back to us. If we put in a trout that is not fit for 

 market they have a chance to come back on us. This pro- 

 tects the purchaser, insuring that the trout shall be in proper 

 condition for food. 



I want to say, gentlemen, that since the enactment of the 

 law in Massachusetts in opening the market of Boston, I 

 have not sent over a thousand pounds of trout from our 

 hatchery to New York. They have all been consumed in 

 Boston, because we ha\e had a market the year around, 

 which is of great advantage to the people, as well as to us. 

 We are able to keep our trout of the size that the market 

 demands. It is a fact that the people of Boston do not want 

 a trout that will weigh half a pound ; they refuse them. We 

 have to send those here to New York. 



W1ien I went out last year to California I stopped at 

 Salt Lake four days and saw the trout in the markets there 

 in tanks. I went to John Sharpe, former Commissioner, 



