The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1875-11-30
Game in Vermont.

They have an association for the pro.
lection Of game and fish" In the state of
Vermont, and they need it badly. This
woodland and mountain state, where
there are and always will be thousands of
acres given up to growing timber, and
where the brooks are still free from man.
ufacturies to a large extent, it is as bare
Of game as a marble.top table. There is
nothing more melancholy for one in
search Of the rural flavor than to wander
through forests where the most consider.
able animal is the squirrel and to ramble
along brooks sparkling, but lifeless. Th ere
are considerable streams which have not
been inhabited in tho memory Of man, and
whole townships where the growing farm.
lad is as unfamiliar to the fishing-rod and
the shot gun, and to the days ramble
amid nature, as any city.bred unfortu.
nate.
DR.. Middleton Goldsmith, of Rutland,
a well known physician, who has investi.
gated the subject at homo and abroad,
recently delivered before the association
referred to an address on this subject, to
which we solicit careful attention. DR..
Goldsmith says that the game rents of
Scotland that is, the licenses to shoot
game, amount to 100000 annually,
and he has no doubt that the game of the
state OF Vermont is susceptible of produc.
ing more than the whole cost of the state
government Where q good trout brook
runs through a farm, the fishing ought to
rent for enough to pay the whole taxes Of
the farm, aud the forest ought to pay ten
cents an acre. To attain this end. game
must be taken only in its proper season,
the exclusive right of the landowner to
Kill the game on his own premises must
be insisted upon, and the lawless, rambl-
ing poachers,w pursue game ignorantly,
often cruelty and lawlessly, must be re.
pressed. The Suuday.hunting of boys is
exterminatiDg the last survivors of the
natural cattle of the soil. TIE English
obligation to the game laws in that coun-
try does not obtain 10 this country.
In England the land lords are the
nobility, and for their pleasure the game
is preserved. But in this country and
peculiarly in Vermont, the owners Of the
soil are the actual occupiers, the common
people, and nobody has better right to
insist on the preservation OF their own.
Again, as to the hardship Of requiring
"the poor man" ito pay reasonable license
fee for the right to hunt, if game was
made plenty he could much better afford
to pay fec than he now can to spend his
whole day tramping after few meagre
squirrels, Game is now is now so scarce
in Vermont that man whose time is
worth S1.5O day can send to Boston
for it and get it cheaper than he can hunt
it. And yet in the cities the prices are
such as to remunerate richly the cost of
taking game, if it was preserved and
made plenty. In the New York market
land they are no cheaper here) rabbits
bring from IS to 62 cents pair, pigeons
1925 to $3.50 per dozen for stall-fed,
L--i 10 49,. r., n:-LI 49,,
they are dearer than that here woodcock
and partrldges bring from 90 to 62l
cents apiece, and trout in their season SO
cents pound A hearty public senti.
ment, however, must be created on the
subject before much can be hoped from
the law, and DR.. Goldsmith contemplates
voluntary association and effort as the
beginning and foundation Of game.culture.
Much needs to be done in the way of
arousing the people to the great loss they
annually sustain in not reaping harvest
from the forest and stream, and to the
best means of recovering the wealth thus
sacrificed. When the preservation of fish
is attempted, it is not always with the
utmost discrimination. We know of o
fine sheet of water in which the legisla.
! tive sanction has been procured to the
preservation Of pickerel, fish which, both
from the poverty of its flavor and from
its destruction of other fish, ought to be
suppressed rather than protected. To
bring about different state Of things, the
ton, by those who appreciate the posi-
bilitics of game. culture. Efficient local
clubs should be started, to cultivate an
interest and knowledge of this import.
ant and neglected opportunity of an agri.
cultural community. ty.-RspuNican