St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1916-02-09

people visit their streams and covers
from the one large town in the county
and from abroad; that some of them
disregard property rights and that all
take fish from the waters without
making any effort to restock them.
The local inhabitants do not care to
stock the waters merely for the bene-
fit of the more leisurely class of the
city.
Protect The Headwaters.
Another important work which /
suggest that you take up is the secur-
ing of long term leases or deeds of the
fishing rights on the headwaters of
your best trout streams with a view
to having them permanently closed as
breeding places to stock the lower and
larger waters into which they flow.
In the towns of Rochester, Hancock
and Warren it is expected to close the
headwaters of nearly all the streams
this coming spring.
AS the policy of closing headwaters
becomes appreciated through the ben
efits thus derived it is hoped that the
movement will become a general one
and when the headwaters have been
quite generally closed the six-inch law
may be unnecessary.
,
The law providing for an anglers
license, though having many other
advantages, is a revenue measure
The department is entirely dependent
upon the revenues from hunting and
fishing licenses for it's support as it
has no legislative appropriation. The
revenue from the anglers license will
exceed the amount heretofore appro-
priated by the legislature and will
make possible the propagation of
fishes and the production of finger
lings upon a much larger scale than
ever before.
During the past week. an expert
mental hatchery has been completed
in the town or Arlington and stocked
with sufficient eggs to test the quail
ties of the water for hatchery pur-
poses. This will be followed by the
installation of a battery of SO rearing
troughs.
It is the first of a series of rearing
stations to be established under the
new law. Land has been leased for
another experiment station at South
Vernon in Windham county.
If the next legislature does not
change the present license law or at
tempt to divert the revenue from it's
the policy of your commissioner to
establish rearing plants in other coun-
ties as rapidly as funds will permit.
The opportunities for the Fish and
Game department to help in the states
development never were brighter,
never more urgent. Small game is
abundant. Assisted by favorable sea-
sons for breeding. ETC., the grouse have
not within my memory been more
abundant than they have been during
the past year. Fish in our streams
and lakes are certainly holding their
own. If you will all join hands to do
as much as some of you have done,
keeping in mind the interest of the
whole state. Vermont, with her un-
surpassed scenery, her good and con-
stantly improvings highways, will be
more appreciated by her residents and
the increasing number of guests whom
we welcome from beyond our borders.
The Sportsmen's Convention.
hope that all of you Haho feel that
you can afford to do so will broaden
the sphere of your influence by join
ing the Vermont Fish and Game
league which has done so much to in
f1uence progressive fish and game
legislation during the past rs years
whether you join or not, will attend
the Sportsmen's convention to be held
under it's auspices the last day of
February and first day in March.
We expect to have Mr.. Finley, state
zooIogist of Oregon, with moving-pic-
lures of wild life; Herbert K. Job,
of the National Audubon society, with
moving pictures of wild bird life;
State Conservation Commissioner
Pratt of New York, who will illustrate
by moving pictures methods of con-
servation in New York state-he also
has a very interesting reel of moving
pictures illustrating moose in Nova
Scotia which became wonted to the
surroundings of the camp and fol-
lowed the boys around after flap
jacks, finally actually coming up ON
the piazza of the log cabin to get some
dainties.
Representatives of the U. S. Bureau
of Fisheries and U. S. Biological Sur
vey, Washington, D. c., are expected
to be in attendance to answer author
itatively any questions pertaining to
their departments.
Rev. f. I'll. Laird.
Rev. F. H Laird of West Barnet is
a son of the late Peter B. Laird who
club, and he told of the wholesome
truths his father had taught him on
their fishing and hunting expeditions.
He gave a very vivid description of
the pleasures of Harvey's lake and the
landing of small trout. The great
word at present is preparedness and
in the preparedness for good fishing
and hunting the work must be car
ried on year after year. Every MEM
Der of this organization should be a
missionary for preparedness in good
sports and keep up the membership
of the club so it could successfully
prosecute it's work Of preparedness.
Another great word is conservation.
This means that what we have or get
we should hold. To hold our present
supply of fish and game the laws
must be enforced. While the wardens
were faithful he did not believe they
detected more than tenth of the Of
tenders. We should cooperate with
~ 49,, So a17f Of f1,o 1ar