EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING. L7 
and ponds, and know that they have done better than they would 
in our own hard water; and, on the other hand, have received 
eggs from soft-water establishments, and after the. first month 
found that they do no better than the natives of our water. 
But I do consider our trout as good as the best in the coun- 
try for the table. In New York many consider the Long Island 
fish best, but let the streams of Long Island be four or five 
hundred miles from the New York market, and I doubt if such 
would be the case. 
Mr. Weeks: I would ask if Mr. Annin includes all soft 
waters ? 
Mr. AnNIN: I could not well do that, as I have not handled 
eges from all the soft waters in the country. I only include 
those with which I have had experience. 
Mr. Weeks: Our water in western Pennsylvania is soft. I 
obtained my first stock of trout-eggs from Mr. Annin, and they 
were good. I have bought many eggs, some from Cattaraugus 
County, N. Y., from soft water, had a very thin shell, and were 
nearly all lost in transportation. 
Mr. 8S. M. Jounson, of Warren Bridge, Boston, then read the 
following paper on Lobster Fishery and how to protect it. 
This, like all questions having for their object the best 
method of economizing and preserving our supply of sea food, 
has become not only of great interest, but of great importance. 
and the discussion of such topics are looked upon with increasing 
interest from year to year, as the necessity for a law in relation 
to them becomes more apparent. 
With these facts in view, I esteem it a privilege to accept 
the invitation of the Secretary of this Association to consider 
briefly the causes of a very apparent decrease in the size of lob- 
sters offered for sale in our markets. 
The first question seems to be what relation the supply bears 
to the demand, and the ability of the former to meet the later 
in the future as well as the present. 
In looking for a reasonable solution of this problem, an in- 
quiry concerning the means taken to provide the supply now as 
