FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 27 



it together in as compact a condition as possible and making it as general as 

 conditions will permit. In the revision the hunting season has been treated 

 as the " open " season instead of speaking of the " close " season. In this 

 way everyone will be able to understand when he may hunt or fish without 

 having to figure it out. There are two very important additions which we 

 believe should be made to the law. First, there should be a hunting license 

 law. The experience of many other States and countries makes it plain 

 that such a law operates to protect game. It is easily enforced. Non- 

 residents are made to pay for the right they get in our State to fish and hunt, 

 and they are taxed in no other way. If such a law is enacted, it will be 

 very useful in protecting song birds and birds of plumage, and a large 

 revenue will be collected under it to help defray the expenses of protection, 

 which revenue will only come from those who receive the largest amount 

 of benefit from protection — the hunters and sportsmen. 



Under the law in several of the counties of the State, trout cannot be 

 sold. That should be the general law of the State, because it has been 

 shown that to prohibit the sale of birds or fish is the best way to protect 

 them. Such is the law in relation to grouse at the present time. The 

 opening and closing of the season should commence as nearly as possible 

 at the same time in all parts of the State, especially in sections where the 

 conditions are alike. 



The shellfish law should be revised for reasons hereinbefore stated 

 under the subject of Shellfish. These ideas have been carried out in the 

 proposed revision, which I shall be pleased to submit to the Legislature 

 at an early date and urge the passage of the revision as presented, believing 

 that it will be for the best interests of all the people of the State and will 

 give us a law that can be better enforced and produce much better results. 

 In this revision I have spent a great deal of time and careful thought, 

 with a view only to making the law more general, simple, and as little 

 objectionable as possible. 



As suggested in my last report, all the great property interests under 

 the care of this Department are perishable and need constant and watchful 

 care. The forests, if not protected from fire and trespass, might soon be 

 greatly injured or destroyed. Lakes, streams and ponds if not protected 

 and supplied with fish life by artificial propagation would soon produce 



