84 AMERICAN 



12,000 dollars at the lowest, and to 17,000 dollars at 

 the highest. 



These delays, be they right or wrong, on the part 

 of private corporations, are the more to be regretted, 

 because the State has shown the utmost activity and 

 good faith in trying to repair any injuries to fisheries 

 whether at home or abroad ; and it is proper to add 

 that on the Merrimack River the companies have 

 shown a large spirit, and have been ready to go beyony 

 what the law absolutely required of them. 



The law passed at the last session, together with 

 the progress of the work in hand, have turned the at- 

 tention of the Commissioners to various plans for re- 

 stocking our waters by artificial or natural propaga- 

 tion. As this whole subject, though not new, is cer- 

 tainly NOVEL to our people, it is well to consider to 

 what point we have come, here in New England, in 

 the matter of animal food. We have come, then, to 

 good beef at 35 cents a pound, poultry at 33 cents, 

 sea fish at 20 cents, and other things in proportion. 

 As to game, we have come to grouse, venison, quails, 

 and ducks, brought 1,200 miles by railroad, and sold 

 at high prices to people who can afford such delica- 

 cies. Time was when our country boys could go to 

 the next brook and catch enough good trout for a 

 meal ; now one may buy a pound trout if he has got 

 half a dollar wherewith to pay for it, and he will pro- 

 bably get a newly spawned fish, speared in its bed, 

 and which the fish-monger is prepared to prove was 

 "caught out of the State! " People complain, and 

 the legislature passes game laws, and nobody pays 

 any attention to them after they are passed. Why ? 

 Because we insist on considering wild animals as our 

 remote forefathers considered them, when men were 

 scarce and wild animals were plenty. In a new 

 country the first settlers may properly have, not only 

 liberty, but in some things license ; license to till land 



