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THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



last month I drove as high as seven out of my young trees, 

 or out of an orchard where some thirty-five or forty acres 

 have been set for about two years. You can see what I have 

 been up against. I would like to hear from others on this 

 question — in regard to damage from deer. 



A Member : If the state protects the deer, why 

 shouldn't it protect the farmers and fruit growers? 



PlJESiDENT Rogers : That is what I want to know, but 

 how are we going to get at any fair valuation? That is one 

 trouble. I have been called out a dozen different times to 

 appraise damage by deer, and I have always been very much 

 ashamed when I have gone home in the way I have used my 

 neighbors. I believe there are others here in the building 

 that have had about the same experience that I have had, 

 and I, for one, would like to hear from them. 



A Member from Massachusetts : We have got a 

 serious problem in Massachusetts. This last \ear the Com- 

 monwealth is probably paying something like ten thousand 

 dollars for damages done by deer to orchards and other 

 growing crops. I believe that the solution of the problem 

 will come through the excessive damage that the deer are 

 causing. I believe it is the duty of every farmer, when they 

 have any damage done, to try to get some paAinent for dam- 

 ages from the state. If the amount runs up pretty well, then 

 there would be some object in having the deer laws changed 

 or amended so that they may not be a menace to the orchard 

 industry. It is one of the serious obstacles in many sec- 

 tions to success in the fruit business, and it is something 

 which the farmers of the state have got to determine. I saw 

 one orchard of 1,700 trees entirely annihilated by these ani- 

 mals, which were upheld by the sentiment of those who call 

 themselves sportsmen, and who want them protected. If 

 we are going to be agriculturists here in New England, let 

 us have laws that will protect our interests, and not give way 

 as we have done to the sentiment of so-called sportsmen. I 

 believe the law is cfoine to be changed in Massachusetts this 



