146 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



in Great Britain, a commission composed of scientific and 

 practical men to take the matter under advisement. I 

 believe if such a commission is appointed it will decide, as it 

 did in Great Britain, that the new and improved methods of 

 fishing have not exhausted and cannot exhaust the supply 

 offish, and therefore for the public good their use should be 

 permitted in any waters of any State of the United States. 



What the Experiment Stations should do. 



In closini;:, I want to uro;e the a2:ricultural experiment 

 stations of the country and the boards of agriculture of the 

 different States to take this question under consideration. 

 I was sorry, when it was up for discussion at Washington 

 last spring, that not a representative from any station in the 

 Union was in attendance to present the agricultural side of 

 the question. I regretted, when the matter was up in Mas- 

 sachusetts, that no representative from our two stations, the 

 Massachusetts and the Hatch, was present at the hearing. 



Our experiment stations have done a great work in devel- 

 oping the plant-food industry and in looking up and pre- 

 senting to the pul)lic new sources and forms of plant food. 

 Now that a great source, perhaps the greatest source, is 

 jeopardized, it seems to me that the directors of our stations, 

 as re})resentatives of the farmers, should be on hand to })re- 

 sent their side of the question. 



A Personal Word. 



Brother members of the Board of Agriculture, you know 

 me as a manufacturer of fertilizers, and naturally you may 

 ask if I have any personal interest in this matter. Let me 

 assure you that I have not a dollar's interest in any fishing 

 enterprise. Personally, I do not care whether one menhaden 

 or one billion are taken from the sea. As a manufacturer 

 of chemical manures, it is my business to collect plant food 

 wherever I can find it. If the menhaden fisheries should be 

 wiped out to-day, the fertilizer manufacturer would secure 

 })lant food from other sources, probably drawing on foreign 

 countries, especially Chili, for nitrate, and sending his money 

 abroad instead of keeping it at home. 



