RIVER FISHERIES. 85 



anywhere, to cut wood anywhere, to shoot and trap 

 game anywhere, to catch fish anywhere and in any 

 way. All such things are then too plenty. As popu- 

 lation increases land and wood become PROPERTY, 

 until, as in Tuscany, the one is cultivated by thesquare 

 rod, and the other, as in Paris, is sold by the pound. 

 This is the march of civilization ; but in our march of 

 civilization we have very thoughtlessly trampled under 

 foot a most valuable PROPERTY, because of a vague 

 idea that it was game, and, by immemorial right, be- 

 longed to anybody and to everybody. And to-day 

 there is many an honest fellow who might safely be 

 trusted with untold gold, but who, nevertheless, would 

 not scruple to steal trout from your brook. This 

 feeling gets strength from the loose impression that 

 game, like the Indian, is doomed, and that the last 

 shad or trout is soon to be caught, a sort of Dr. 

 Fear-the-worst theory 



Let our people once clearly understand that these 

 fish and these oysters are real PROPERTY, to be in- 

 creased and to be raised in value like other property, 

 and there will be no more difficulty about the rights 

 of owners. 



Laws have hitherto done little to cheek the des- 

 truction of valuable fishes, and that from the rivalry 

 of the very men who should support such. If there 

 was blame, it lay at the door of the weir people, who 

 took all the young fish. Nearly all agreed, however, 

 that the fish had diminished in numbers and in size, 

 but they attributed this failure, with striking unani- 

 mity, to the Holyoke dam. 



The average yearly take of shad in Connecticut is 

 estimated at 628,500. 



The chief elements of the general questions are 

 these : 



1. At what periods do the salmon, the shad, &c., 

 come into, and go out from, our rivers ? 



