4 io WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY . 
leaders are often six miles long, and furnished with a trap at each 
mile. They are comparatively expensive affairs at the outset, 
and are set in water ranging from six to sixty feet in depth. The 
poles to which portions of the net are attached are often a foot in 
diameter, and are forced into the bottom by the aid of a pile- 
driver. No fish can pass this long barrier; the only apparent 
passage-way being at the trap opening, and this opening being 
only a means of sure capture. Any one can see that such an 
engine of destruction must clean out all the fish within its reach. 
Now, as even the old seine lessened the annual yield, and the 
gill-net very much decreased it, how many breeders does any one 
suppose will be left after the pound-net shall have finished its 
work? Even the pound net fishing is nearly exhausted in lakes 
Ontario, Huron, Erie, and Michigan, and in lake Superior alone 
is this method extensively and profitably used. It is true that 
notwithstanding the decrease of the fish, the fishermen make 
nearly as much as formerly, because they charge an increased 
price. But it will take no wise prophet to foretell the failure of 
their business. They may raise the price until the last fish is 
drawn, and then- 
Now, if it is true that the decrease of the fish has not decreased 
the profits of the fishermen, neither will the increase of the fish 
decrease their profits, as they will obtain more fish with less out¬ 
lay of capital and less labor. Most of the fishermen already see 
this, and are not only willing but anxious to have the supply in¬ 
creased and the continuation of their business made sure. 
If the fishermen are anxious to make the change, how much 
more anxious should be the general public. It can be demon¬ 
strated that a comparatively small outlay will very much decrease 
the price of the white-fish. In other words, by an indirect expen¬ 
diture of less than one cent, we will be able to get for 25 cents 
the same weight of fish for which we are now paying $1.75. This 
may sound like “big talk,” but it is not considered an extrava¬ 
gant estimate by those acquainted with the facts. 
There are two methods by which the lakes may be restocked to 
their former capacity. 
The first is, by putting an end at once to all fishing, and trust¬ 
ing to the natural increase of the fish. Well, this process would 
