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the people, for this purpose, surrendered to private par- 
ties, being riparian owners, all their fishing rights in 
every pond of less area than twenty acres, also in every 
unnavigable stream in the State. It also made fishes 
artificially cultivated or maintained the absolute property 
of the person cultivating or maintaining them. It also 
made it a penalty of $20 to $50 to fish in any waters in 
the State in which fishes are lawfully artihcially culti- 
vated or maintained. 
The commissioners called the attention of the people 
to this law in their report for the year ending January 1, 
1870, in the following words: ‘The need of such a lawas 
this is the same as the need of a law to protect any in- 
dustry. While on the one hand we recognize the fact 
that a supply of good fresh-water fishes, among which 
we class the salmon, shad, trout, black bass and smelt, 
are essential as food for our people, we are still compelled 
to admit that the supply is constantly diminishing, and 
that several of these fishes are in many localities exter- 
minated. For this deplorable state of things there was 
but one remedy, and that was to make fishes under cer- 
tain conditions property, and thus give the same stimulus 
to the cultivation of fish that is given to the raising of 
any other live stock. Under the knowledge we now 
have such cultivation is as easy as that of poultry.” 
The successful cultivation of trout is no longer a mat- 
ter of doubt. It has passed through the experimental 
stages and now stands out as destined to become one of 
the great industries of the people, and it will if the sev- 
eral States will only realize the importance of encour- 
aging the industry by repealing or modifying the re- 
strictive laws in relation to the sale of artificially reared 
trout. Some of the States have already done this. Con- 
necticut, Rhode Island and Maryland have modified their 
laws in relation to the sale of ‘trout artificially raised, and 
a bill to that effect has already passed the Massachusetts 
Senate, and is now pending in the House of Representa- 
