148 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pul). Doc. 



that man has not affected the number of fish in the sea. 

 Fish come and go without regard to man. The reason 

 of their comini»: or ijoino; we do not know. The general 

 result is, that it is for the public l)enefit, especially for the 

 benefit of farmers, who, we know, are the foundation of 

 everything as far as our commerce is concerned, that our 

 fisheries should be unrestricted. Our fishermen are not 

 getting repaid for the la1)or and expense they put out, and 

 it would seem that, if the farmers can l)e the means of help- 

 ing them hy Imying fertilizers, they should be protected and 

 helped instead of being ruined and destroyed. 



Mr. CusHMAN. I have been very much interested in this 

 paper this morning, although I came here without any par- 

 ticular knowledge of the question that was to be presented 

 before this body. I reside within some fourteen or fifteen 

 miles of the shores of Buzzard's Bay. I am not particularly 

 interested in the fisheries in any manner whatever, but I wish 

 to say to you, gentlemen, that this is an exciting cjuestion, 

 not only to the farmers, but to all the residents along the 

 shores of Buzzard's Bay. The fisheries of that bay are valu- 

 al)le to the inhabitants of that section, not for the fish alone 

 that are taken from the waters, Init they consider that the 

 fish enhance the value of the land. It is to the value of the 

 land that they look, and it seems to. me that this paper and 

 this discussion is drifting away a little from the agricultural 

 })oint. This question appears difierently up here in Spencer 

 to you gentlemen who live a long distance from Buzzard's 

 Bay from the aspect it assumes down there. It is a local 

 question to the peoi)le there, and the point is just here : 

 there has been a great deal of excitement over the seizure 

 of vessels in Massachusetts w^aters. Vessels have l)een 

 seized that were engaged in taking their fish, as they con- 

 sider. Foreigners (I use the term as the speaker did) come 

 into the waters of those ])eople with tiieir steam vessels, and 

 scoo}) up their lisli in th(Mr nets, etc., and take them away 

 into a foreign land, and it l)ecomes there a local question. 

 I am rather sorry that it has been l)rought into an agricult- 

 ural meeting for discussion. I have heard this question dis- 

 cussed a great deal by the inhabitants on Cape Cod and the 

 people who live on the shores of liuzzard's Bay. I think 



