‘rirst \ < ‘New England (ie, Conference of hadautatati fo | Boston. 1508 @ IK24 08 N54 THE JOHN - CRAIG LIBRARY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE NEY yor" STATE COLLEG® CF AG™ICULTURE, DEPARTMENT CF HOCTICULTURE CORNELL UNIVERSITY i Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014107993 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST NEW ENGLAND CONFERENCE, CALLED BY THE GOVERNORS OF THE NEW ENGLAND STATES. Boston, Nov. 23, 24, 1908. BOSTON: WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING CO., STATE PRINTERS, 18 Post OFFICE SQUARE. 1908, IW 240% N54 (215032 CONTENTS. PAGE Introduction, ¥ * a é 5 Picture of Governors, : Face page 7 Programme, zs i 3 : i A F . 7 FIRST SESSION. Address of Welcome, by Governor Curtis Guild, Jr., of Massachusetts, ; 9 The Cultivation of Forest Trees, by Gifford Pinchot, National Forester, Washington, D.C., . 11 New England’s Opportunity in Orchards, 2 John Craig, eee of Homi: culture, Cornell University, Ithaca, Dla ¥ oy Fi ° ‘ , 13 Suggestions and Discussions by the Delegates: — Herbert Myrick of Springfield, Editor ‘‘New England Homestead,” 31 Prof. Frank W. Rane, State Forester of Massachusetts, : 32 J. H. Hale, Fruit Grower, South Glastonbury, Conn., 34 E. Cyrus Miller, Apple Grower, Haydenville, Mass., 35 Philip H. Ayres, State Forester of New Hampshire, . " 37 A. W. Elson, Treasurer Massachusetts Forestry Association, . 38 Governor Curtis Guild, Jr., of Massachusetts, 39 John Craig, . P ‘ c . 39 . SECOND SESSION. The Preservation and Propagation of the Lobster, by Francis H. Herrick, Special Investigator, United States Bureau of Fisheries, . 41 The Preservation and Propagation of Mollusks, by Dr. George W. Field, Chairman Massachusetts Commission on Fisheries and Game, 61 Suggestions and Discussions by the Delegates: — Hon. Wallace Hackett, Mayor of Portsmouth, N.H., . m . 75 James Donahue, Commissioner of Sea and Shore Fisheries, Rockland, Me., 77 A. W. Mead, Providence, R. I., Commissioner on Inland Fisheries, 80 THIRD SESSION. The Construction of Highways, by Harold Parker, C.E., Chairman Massachu- setts Highway Commission, . 83 Trunk Lines of Highways for New Rsaides ey sibs H. wieeacnsld, Site Highway Commissioner, Connecticut, . F : ; : . 96 CONTENTS. Automobiles and their Regulation, by Hon. Nahum J. Batchelder, Ex-Gov- ernor of New Hampshire, Suggestions and Discussions by the Delegates: — Charles G. Allerton, Middlebury, Conn., Governor Curtis Guild, Jr., of Massachusetts, ; Hon. Paul D. Sargent, State Highway Commissioner of Maine, Augusta, Me., . 5 . a ‘ A. M. Lyman, Secretary Massachusetts Creamery Association, Montague, Mass., ‘ Lewis R. Speare, First Vice-President American Automobile Association, Boston, Mass., Francis Hurtubis, Jr., Esq., Boston, Mass., Governor Curtis Guild, Jr., of Massachusetts, Col. William D. Sohier, Member Massachusetts Highway Commission, Beverly Farms, Mass., ‘ Arthur W. Dean, State Engineer of New Hampshire, Concord, N. H., Conclusion: — Governor William T. Cobb, of Maine, Governor Curtis Guild, Jr., of Massachusetts, MAPS. Map issued by Massachusetts Highway Commission, showing State Highways PAGE 102 107 109 110 110 111 112 115 115 117 118 119 of Massachusetts laid out and petitioned for, June 1, 1908, Face page 88 Map of Suggested Trunk Lines of Highways for New England, prepared by James H. MacDonald, Esq., Highway Commissioner of Con- necticut, . . : z Face page 96 INTRODUCTION. The suggestion of the conference, under the auspices of the Governors of New England, was first made by Mr. Herbert Myrick of Springfield, editor of the “ New England Homestead.” At the suggestion of Mr. Myrick, various Massachusetts organizations in- terested themselves in the matter. In accordance with their sug- gestion, Governor Guild of Massachusetts issued an invitation to the Governors of the New England States to meet him on Septem- ber 14 at the Algonquin Club at luncheon. Every Governor was present, with the exception of Governor Cobb and Governor-elect Fernald, of Maine, Governor Guild having accidentally chosen the date of the Maine State election. There were present also Mr. Myrick; President Kenyon L. Butterfield of the Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst; President Fred T. Ley of the Springfield Board of Trade, representing also the State Board of Trade; and C. D. Richardson, Esq., Master of the State Grange. It was agreed at this meeting that such a conference should be held under the auspices of the Governors and Governors-elect. It was further agreed that there should be invited as official dele- gates the Lieutenants-Governor, the Attorneys-General, the Presi- dents of the New England Senates, the Speakers of the New England Houses of Representatives, the Members of Congress and United States Senators from New England. To these official delegates it was decided to add prominent citizens, to be named by the Governor of each State, the allotment of each State to be two for each Representative and two for each Senator. Governor Guild was unanimously requested to preside, and Mr. Frank L. Dean of Worcester was designated as secretary. At an adjourned meeting at the Algonquin Club, on October 10, Maine was repre- sented both by her Governor and Governor-elect, and assented to the proceedings of the previous meeting. The programme and scope of the first meeting, including the speakers to be invited, was there definitely decided. It was also determined that discussion should be confined to the delegates to the conference; that no resolution should be entertained for adop- 6 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. tion, but that all the information furnished by the experts, to- gether with the stenographic report of the discussion, should be preserved and submitted to the State officials directly concerned with the character of the legislation suggested; that such depart- ment chiefs of the New England States should assemble, and, in the light of the information furnished, report before January 1 such uniform recommendations as they should deem to be proper for adoption by the present incoming Governors of the New Eng- land States. The Governors met on Monday, November 23, at the Executive Chamber of the State House, Boston, proceeding thence to the Hotel Touraine, where they were entertained at an informal luncheon with the speakers of the day by the Governor of Massa- chusetts. In the evening of the first day of the conference the visiting Governors, speakers and delegates were entertained at dinner at the Algonquin Club by the Governor of Massachusetts. The badge worn by the Governors and delegates was the his- toric green pine tree of New England on a white silk ribbon. The decoration at the Tremont Theatre, where the conference was held, consisted of the historic flags of New England. The Stars and Stripes stood at the right of the speaker’s desk, and the New Eng- land flag with the cross of St. George and the pine tree on the speaker’s left. The desk was decorated with American flags. There were present at the conference Governor Cobb and Gov- ernor-elect Fernald, of Maine; Governor Floyd and Governor- elect Quinby, of New Hampshire; Governor Prouty, of Vermont; Governor Guild and Governor-elect Draper, of Massachusetts; Acting Governor Watrous and Governor-elect Pothier, of Rhode Island; Governor Woodruff and Governor-elect Lilley, of Con- necticut. ‘omysdmeH MON Jo Aquind ‘gq ATUEH 400TT-"AcH ‘ouTeIA Jo PIeUIET “Il WOM 400TT-"a0y ‘sq90s NYOBSSEAL JO “Ie ‘PIINH sqganp “aoyH ‘OUTS JO GqoO “L WRIT ‘A0D ‘omysdueY_ MON JO PAOTI “IAL SATIVMD “AOH : 4YST1I 03 439] ‘MOI JBMOT “*gNoy409TU0D Jo APT[TT “TI 931005 4oo9Tq-"A0y ‘puUeIs[ apoyy jo snowyemM ‘oO UdIey *AOy SUPQOY ‘AOH-"4neTT ‘YUOTIIIA JO Aqnold *“H e3109H “aoy ‘sqygesnyoesse Jo Jedeiq “s Weqy 40eTF-"A0y ‘gno}oeuTM0D Jo BNAPOOM °s§ UIlow “AON :4943T1 09 9321 ‘Mor reddp PROGRAMME OF THE FIRST NEW ENGLAND CONFERENCE CALLED BY THE GOVERNORS OF THE NEW ENGLAND STATES AT TREMONT THEATRE, BOSTON, NOVEMBER 23, 24, 1908. OPEN FREE TO THE PUBLIC. THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONFERENCE. Cuairman, CURTIS GUILD, Jr. Srcretary, FRANK L. DEAN. FIRST SESSION. Monpay, NOVEMBER 23, 2 P.M. Topic: Tree Planting. 1. Prayer. ° Rev. GeorcE A. Gorpon, Pastor New Old South Church, Boston. 2. The Cultivation of Forest Trees. GirrorD PincHot, Esq., President National Conservation Commission and National Forester, Washington, D. C. 3. New England’s Opportunity in Orchards, Joun Craic, Esq., Professor of Horticulture, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 4. Suggestions and Discussion by the Delegates. SECOND SESSION. Turspay, NOVEMBER 24, 10 a.m. Topic: Protection and Promotion of Supplies of Sea Food. 1. Prayer. Very Reverend Grorce J. Patterson, Vicar-General of the Archdiocese of Boston. 2. The Preservation and Propagation of the Lobster. Francis H. Herrick, Esq., Special Investigator on the Lobster for United States Bureau of Fisheries; Professor-in-chief of the Department of Biology, Adelbert College (Western Reserve University), Cleveland, O. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. The Preservation and Propagation of Mollusks. Dr. Grores Witton Fixxp, late Instructor in Biology at Johns Hopkins University; Special Investigator of Marine Biology at the Naples (Italy) Zodlogical Station and for the United States Bureau of Fisheries; Chair- man Fisheries and Game Commission of Massachusetts. Suggestions and Discussion by the Delegates. THIRD SESSION. Turspay, NovEMBER 24, 2 P.M. Topic: Highways and their Use. Prayer. Rabbi Puineas IsraEi of the Congregation Adath Jeshurun, Boston. The Construction of Highways. Haro.tp Parker, C.E., Delegate to Paris International Congress on Road- building; Chairman Massachusetts Highway Commission. Trunk Lines of Highways for New England. James H. MacDonatp, President American Roadmakers Association; Commissioner of Highways of the State of Connecticut. Automobiles and their Regulation. Hon. Nanum J. BacHELDER, Master of the National Grange Patrons of Husbandry; Ex-Governor of New Hampshire. Suggestions and Discussion by the Delegates. All papers read and suggestions made at the three sessions of the conference will be referred respectively to the State chiefs of departments covering forestry, shell- fish and highways, with instructions to meet, consider and report to the incoming Governors, before January 1, their findings in regard to uniform laws for all New England. THE GOVERNORS OF NEW ENGLAND. 1908. MAINE, New HampsHire, CHartes M. Fioyp. VERMONT, MASSACHUSETTS, . Ruope Isuanp, . ConnecTICUT, Witiiam T. Coss. FLeTcHEerR D. Proctor. Curtis Guiup, Jr. James H. Hicains. Roun 8. Wooprurr. 1909. MAINE, Bert M. FERNALD. New Hampsuire, Henry B. Quinsy. VERMONT, . . Grorce H. Provury. MassacHUSETTs, Eben 8. Draper. Ruoper Istanp,. Aram J. Pornier. Connecticut, Grorce L, Liniey, PROCEEDINGS OF First SESSION. NOVEMBER 23, 1908, 2 P.M. ADDRESS OF WELCOME. By Hon. Curtis Guitp, Jr., GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS. It is my happy privilege to welcome you to the first conference ever held by the New England States for the promotion of uni- formity in law and for the development of the natural resources of this portion of the United States. It is not the intention of the present Governors of New England to form an organization that shall in any way supplant the legislative authority established by the constitutions of the separate States or by that of the United States; we form here no irresponsible House of Governors. Still less is it desirable that Senators and Representatives in Congress should be asked to set the needs or prejudices of a section before the needs of the whole nation. The Stars and Stripes fly on the tight of the State ensign on every State House in New England; there may they ever remain. There is, however, legislation that is reserved by constitutional rights to the States. The lack of uniformity in these State laws is alike prejudicial to the conservation of our natural resources and to the elevation of public and private life. It is idle, for example, for one New England State to enact rigid laws for the preservation of shellfish, if the lack of such law in others makes the same man punishable as a malefactor in the State where he secures his mer- chandise and an honorable merchant in the States where he sells it. Let this movement for uniformity of State laws succeed in New England, and we may hope that its application may be even broader, till the little child shall be transferred from the cotton mill to the 10 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. public school, — not in some States, but in every State; till the corporation laws of a single Commonwealth may no longer be a national menace alike to honest finance and equitable taxation in every other Commonwealth; till the American home, guarded alike by rigid divorce laws in most States, may not be subject to the daily menace of a condition under which the looseness of mar- riage ties punished as vice in New England is hailed as virtue in other sections of our country. We seek in these meetings not an organization for a sectional attack on the funds of the national treasury, but expert knowledge, that, still self-reliant as in the days of the Puritan, the cosmo- politan people of New England may aid themselves through New England legislation and New England public opinion to better con- ditions, both moral and material. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness! The eighteenth century gave our country life; the nineteenth century liberty. It is for the twentieth century to ensure that the pursuit of happi- ness should be made easier and on more even terms for every American citizen. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 11 THE CULTIVATION OF FOREST TREES. By Girrorp PincHoT, NATIONAL ForRESTER, WASHINGTON, D. C. New England's interest in forest planting began before the independence of the United States, and no other part of the country has taken a more active interest in the subject, or done more effective work in recent years. No other part of the country offers greater opportunities for profitable forest planting, and the conditions in none are more favorable. The New England forests now standing are of impressive value in connection with the de- mand for wood, which is going to become more and more urgent as time passes. You have a big problem before you to manage your present merchantable timber lands in such a way as to make them meet the pressing needs of the next quarter of a century as fully as you can, and to perpetuate them for continued useful- ness. It is equally necessary that natural forest land which has been denuded and is now either bare or growing up to inferior species should be made productive through planting profitable trees. There are at least 2,500,000 acres in New England which could be devoted to forest planting, —6 per cent. of the whole area. New England was a pioneer in forest planting. The earliest work here began as long ago as 1760, when a successful attempt was made to raise ship timbers. Between 1820 and 1880 there were probably 10,000 acres of pine planted in Massachusetts. Nowhere else in the country during recent years has so much planting been done on so limited an area as on the waste land in eastern Massachusetts. Since 1894 the practice of forest plant- ing has been on the increase, especially during the last few years. The purposes of this planting have been very definite, and older plantations — many of which have been harvested —show that the undertaking is both practicable and profitable. Not only does it offer a means of profitably utilizing. waste sandy areas unfit for agriculture, but it has been a great aid in the fixation of shift- ing sands. Water companies in Connecticut and Massachusetts 12 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. have done a large amount of planting, in order to keep pure the source of their water supply. Private individuals and companies have purchased abandoned farms and pasture land, and have planted it as an investment. Boxboard companies and stave and heading manufacturers have taken up planting to provide future supplies for their factories. Not including old plantations that have been cut, approximately 25,200 acres of forest have been planted in New England. It is estimated that 5,000,000 board feet of white pine and 34,000 feet of hardwoods could be harvested to-day from plantations in New England. Most of the white pine plantations have been established within the last few years, and will not be ready to cut for twenty-five or thirty years. Two hundred million feet is a conservative esti- mate of what may then be obtained. From the trees that have been planted during 1908 about 60,000,000 feet can be obtained when the plantations become merchantable. And only a begin- ning has been made towards rendering productive the immense area of land in New England which can be devoted to forest growth better than to anything else. If the 2,500,000 acres in New England that need planting are set with trees, it will mean the production of 50,000,000,000 feet of timber, or twenty-five times as much as was cut in New England in 1900. The profits of such an undertaking will be millions of dollars. It will mean in many parts of New England the building up again of a forest industry. A good beginning has been made by each of the New England States in the framing of good forest laws, and in demonstrating to the people the practicability of forest planting; but the key- note of success in this whole work rests upon good fire laws, rig- orously executed, and a realization by the people of the great need there will be in the future for a local supply of timber. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 13 NEW ENGLAND'S OPPORTUNITY IN ORCHARDS. By Joun Craic, Proressor or HorricuLTuRE, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, Iruaca, N. Y. INTRODUCTION. Is it not remarkable that a conference should be called to con- sider the welfare of an industry which is almost as old as the history of New England, and which from the standpoint of a problem has been solved repeatedly in the passing of the last two ‘centuries? New England was the cradle of the fruit industry of the United States, and long before the great grain and meat producing belt of the Mississippi was explored or the fruit regions of the Pacific coast were known, orchard fruits were cultivated with pleasure, success and profit in abundant quantities in these eastern States. Again, we must remember that New England gave to these newly developed fruit regions of the southwest and of the north- west Pacific coast many of the varieties of apples which they are now growing with such magnificent success. The Baldwin, the ‘Roxbury Russet and the Rhode Island Greening are all products of New England; while the Northern Spy, the Spitzenburg and the unrivalled Newtown Pippin are contributions from the Empire State. But more than these, New England was instrumental in introducing those well-known hardy varieties which have paved the way for orcharding operations in the more rigorous regions of the middle northwest. Of these we may mention the Oldenburg, the Alexander and the Astrakan, —a group of apples which have done so much to encourage the beginner in fruit growing in a land of corn, wheat and blizzards of the upper Mississippi valley and contiguous country. It is hardly necessary to prove the claim that apple growing became an important domestic industry in early colonial days, yet a few records from the story of pioneer life may act as salutary reminders and assist in reawakening our pride in the fruit industry. In the export trade New England has shown the way, for as 14 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. early as 1741 apples were shipped from Boston to the West Indies, and soon after this the first commercial shipment of American apples is to be accorded to either New York or Philadelphia in 1758. While this was an enterprise having its base of operations just outside of New England, yet the prime mover was no less a person than the famous New Englander of Boston, Benjamin Franklin. In April, 1632, Conants Island in Boston harbor was granted to Governor Winthrop for 40 shillings and a yearly rent of 12 pence, he promising to plant a vineyard and an orchard, of which the fifth part of the fruits were to be paid yearly by the Governor for the time of his tenure. In 1634-35 the General Court changed the rent to “a hogshead of the best wyne that shall grow there, to be paide yearly after the death of the said John Winthrop and noething before.” The grape culture, if ever seriously undertaken, undoubtedly proved a failure, for in 1640 the rent was again changed to two bushels of apples every year, one bushel to the Governor and another to the General Court in winter time, — the same to be of the best apples there growing; accordingly we find in the records of the General Court held at Boston the seventh day of the eighth month, 1640, formal mention that “ Mr. Win- throp, Sr., paid in his bushel of apples.” In the year 1721? Paul Dudley, chief justice of Massachusetts, residing at Roxbury, says:— Our people of late years have run so much upon orchards that in a village near Boston, consisting of about forty families, they made near three thousand barrels of cider, and in another town of two hundred families, in the same year, I am credibly informed that they made near ten thousand barrels. Some of our apple trees will make six and even seven barrels of cider. A good apple tree will measure from six to ten feet in girt. Our peach trees are large and fruitful, and bear commonly in three years from the stone. I have one in my garden of twelve years’ growth that measures two feet and an inch in girt a yard from the ground, which two years ago bore me near a bushel of fine peaches. THE RENASCENCE OF THE APPLE. Present-day orcharding should develop two lines of effort in New England: (1) the planting of new orchards; (2) renovation of old orchards. An entire change of front in regard to orchard- ing methods should take place in New England. In the early days the settlers followed the valleys, and planted orchards around their 1 History of Massachusetts Horticultural Society, p. 13. 2 Ibid., p. 16. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 15 homes. Experience in later years has demonstrated that the more elevated portions give better results. The valleys should be de- voted to farm and vegetable crops, while the hillsides and lighter soils are admirably adapted to apple growing. Old orchards on the hillsides may often be profitably renovated, while the valley orchard is usually a doubtful proposition, because of the relatively poorer quality of the product. Not less important than the change of point of view regarding location is the change of point of view regarding management. Thousands of the old farmstead orchards were so small that they were hardly worth caring for as a farm crop. Nevertheless, like the farm hen, they were frequently the means of squaring the grocery bill at the country store, and often enabled the housewife to secure many smal] necessaries which the revenue of the farm or the farmer was unable to provide. The fact is they were not cared for. They are not cared for as a crop. Some men have not the taste. Many possess neither interest nor knowledge. Not every farmer can be made a fruit grower. The fact that the old orchard has been regarded as an adjunct instead of an integral part of the farm system has retarded the industry. Again, an orchard investment is one which matures slowly. It is true that it can be made completely self-supporting during the maturing period; yet this is not generally understood, and planting is retarded by lack of knowledge and lack of capital. These conditions prevail practically all over the New England States. In Vermont orcharding is a mere side issue to other more important lines of husbandry, writes the horticulturist of the Ex- periment Station. He states, further, that apple growing offers exceptionally good opportunities to any young man who is willing to give the same careful study and treatment that orchards are receiving in the western States. Professor Stuart says: — Only recently one of our fruit growers volunteered the statement that in 1905 he realized $1,180 from fruit grown upon 11% acres of land in Northern Spy apples, and that from an orchard of nearly 100 acres he is realizing from $200 to $400 per acre annually. Conditions in Rhode Island are less promising than in Vermont. Professor Stene of the Rhode Island Experiment Station writes : — Fruit growing in Rhode Island, in common with other lines of agri- culture, has suffered considerably from the tremendous development of manufacturing industries and the consequent migration of popula- tion from the country to the cities. Scattered about the State are still 16 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. seen the remains of quite large orchards, in which the trees now stand- ing are from forty to eighty years. old. Nothing is done with them, however, except that in some cases the fruit is sometimes picked and made into cider, or fed to cattle. Occasionally we see one of these orchards in which the farmer is doing something toward caring for it, and some marketable fruit is secured. The San José scale has also been a tremendous factor in destroying orchard trees and reducing interest in fruit growing. Its effect has, of course, been more apparent in places where orchards have been set out within the last ten or fifteen years. In such places both the young trees and the old ones have been entirely destroyed by the insect. On the whole, fruit growing, it seems to me, is still on the decline in perhaps the larger part of the State. In some places it may be considered to be at a standstill, and in a few others there are some progressive growers who are beginning to conduct their orchards ac- cording to modern methods. I have in mind at the present moment at least half a dozen men in the State who are making a good success of fruit growing under conditions which are no better than those which surround places where orchards are dying out. The secret lies in cultivation, fertilization, careful pruning, and, most important of all, in a thorough and continuous battle against the San José seale, codling moth and plant diseases. I thoroughly believe that there is a good prospect for orchard grow- ing in the western and northern parts of the State, 15 or 20 miles back from the ocean and the Narragansett Bay. There are people in the State who have faith in the growing of apples even on the more level land near the coast. A Providence physician has set out an orchard of 80 or more acres within 3 miles of the college, on perfectly flat and level land. The soil is not very good, and the trees have not so far made a very good growth; but, while many think that the prospects for success are not the very best, he still persists in setting out more trees and in his belief that the venture will eventually pay. One man in the north-central part of the State during the last two years has cleared perhaps from $2,000 to $4,000 annually from a 40-acre apple orchard, with trees varying from ten to forty years. Two brothers a little to the northwest of the man just mentioned had 3,000 baskets of peaches this year from about 10 acres of peach or- chard, in addition to a fair crop of apples from 15 to 20 aeres of apple orchard. A few similar, though not quite so prominent, instances could be mentioned. THE PrRoBLEM IN NEW ENGLAND. This is divided into two parts: first, the utilization of thou- sands of acres of land in each of the New England States; and second, the renovation of existing orchards. This land is now CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 17 unproductive, —it is often worse than unproductive. It harbors. weeds and unworthy forest trees; provides breeding ground fdr noxious insects; it discourages the settler; it injures forestry and fruit growing; it diverts the attention of would-be orchardists to the cleared areas in the west, and draws our young men to other lands. Much of this land is admirably adapted to apple culture, and this is the zone of the place of origin of our greatest commer- cial apples, the Massachusetts Baldwin and the Rhode Island Greening. The escape from this condition means the planting of new orchards. But the planting and care of these orchards must partake of the spirit of the new horticulture. They must be of approved varieties, planted, cultivated, pruned, sprayed and fed in a rational manner, and the product handled on business principles. I. Commercial Orcharding. The apple is the safest and most profitable orchard crop in New England. There are those who believe in this so thoroughly that they are spending as much as $150 per acre on the clearing of rocky wooded hillsides and hilltops for the reception of apple trees. But there is an abundance of land available in New England without the necessity of expending this large sum. It is worth while, in this connection, to examine the successes and failures which have followed orcharding in different parts of the country. Such an examination will give us courage to venture and advise. Does commercial apple orcharding pay? There is no question that larger profits may be secured from apple growing than is possible from any of the so-called hardy orchard fruits. In Wayne County, New York, there are more than 20,000 acres of apple orchards. The product of these orchards is divided between the evaporators and purchasers of barreled stock. In this country, where there is no special premium for high-grade stock, the gross income falls to $40 per acre, with a minimum expenditure. Of course this includes more men who do not spray than men who do spray; hence the low average. In Orleans County, New York, where a large proportion of the apples are barreled and go into domestic and export trade, the average income of the growers for five years, from 1900 to 1904 inclusive, was $111 per acre. It must be borne in mind that in this average is included the poor cultivator and the non-sprayer, as well as the diligent and progressive. The actual figures for Orleans County are as fol- lows : — 18 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. AVERAGE Gross INcCoME PER ACRE. ORLEANS County, NEw YorK. 1900, Fi ‘ A . $122 1903, 5 . $126 1901, " Z . : . 58' | 1904, : 116 1902, ‘ ‘ 3 . 134 It is most significant to find, however, by an examination of the incomes derived, that they vary from nothing in the case of the totally neglected orchard to as much as $500 per acre in the case of the orchard well tilled, pruned, sprayed and on a favorable soil and site, but, more than this, the orchard from which the product has been marketed advantageously. The question then resolves: itself into this form, viz., How much can each man beat the average? The variations of income from orcharding are shown in the following tabular statement : — FIve-YEaR AVERAGE, 1900-1904, ror ALL GROWERS IN ORLEANS County, New York. Five-year Five-year IncoME PER ACRE. Average Income PER ACRE. Average Per Cent. Per Cent. $0 to $25, . 14.9 $276 to $300, 1,2 26 to 50, 14.0 301 to 325, 9 51 to 75, 10.0 326 to 350, -3 76 to 100, 12.8 351 to 375, 7 101 to 125, 13.1 376 to 400, 1 126 to 150, 8.8 401 to 425, .6 151 to 175, 6.8 426 to 450, 2 176 to 200, 6.2 451 to 475, -1 201 to 225, 4.0 476 to 500, .3 226 to 250, 2.4 Over $500, {2 251 to 275, 1.9 To make the evidence more convincing, I present the returns from another county. In the great fruit-growing region lying alongside the Niagara River and Lake Ontario approximately 25,000 acres are occupied by apple orchards. A survey of this county of Niagara, covering conditions and returns, has been made. This examination, undertaken by the Department of Horticulture of Cornell University, reveals the fact that the returns from all orchards in which the fruit is harvested have for the past three years given an average gross income of $100 per acre, — very much greater than any other farm crop cultivated. THE Factors or Success. Spraying. — There is no longer any 1 Small crop. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 19 question regarding the profitableness of spraying as an orchard practice. It has long passed the debatable or controversial stage. It is now simply a matter of method, with a view of conforming to local or seasonal conditions. While plot experiments first demon- strated the efficiency of spraying methods, field demonstrations are not wanting with which to drive home the lesson. For instance, we have found, after making a census of some 100,000 acres of apple orchards in western New York, that the difference between the re- turns of the man who sprays his orchard properly and the man who does not spray is as 2 is to 1; in other words, spraying may actually double the gross financial returns. We have found that in the well-cultivated orchards of Orleans County, New York, the man who does not spray,. but otherwise cares for his orchard, may secure a return of $103 per acre; but the orchardist who sprays once is rewarded by an increase of income of $36 per acre; the orchardist who sprays twice, with an increase of income of $40 per acre; he who sprays three times, an increase of income of $81 per acre; while the industrious man who sprays four times may be rewarded by an increase of $108 per acre, or a total income of $211 per acre. How many orchards in New England give an increase of one-tenth of this amount? The following table sets forth these data in detail: — SprRAYING, YIELD AND INcoME PER AcRE, 1904, ORCHARDS ALL WELL CARED FOR. ORLEANS County, NEW YORK. Number | Number; Average || Per Cent. | Number | Number Average NuMBER OF TIMES SPRAYED. of of Yield of Crop ol of Tucane Orchards. | Acres. | (Barrels). || barreled. | Orchards. | Acres. i le Unsprayed, 43 381 328 66 54 4494 | $103 Sprayed once, 33 352 346 74 30 316 139 Sprayed twice, 70 | 701 374 78 64 644 143 Sprayed three times, 27 =~} 2473 4140: 87 25 2364 | 184 Sprayed four times, 6 43 569 | 77 6 43 211 Cost of Spraying. — What does it cost to spray an acre of apple trees? This depends upon the age of the trees, the character of the ground and the number per acre. In New York, the cost of spraying large trees thirty to forty years old four times with a combined insecticide and fungicide varies from 30 to 50 cents per tree per season; this will bring the cost per acre between $10 and $15. The New Hampshire Experiment Station found that it cost exactly 23 cents per tree to make four sprayings. Their experi- ments gave the following returns: — 20 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. PRoFIT FROM SPRAYING AN ORCHARD oF 100 TREES. Average gross profit per tree, at $1.25, ; ; i $125 00 Four sprayings at 23 cents, or say 25 cents, per tree, $25 00 20 per cent. on $40 invested in the best outfit, . 8 00 33 00 Net profit, é ‘ r ; ‘ : ‘ ‘ $92 00 Less cost of outfit, . ‘ ‘ 3 ‘ ¥ . 40 00 Net profit for first year (80 per cent. on total investment), . $52 00 The orchardist who sprays need not fear brown-tail or gipsy moth; his regularity of treatment anticipates and prevents the attack. Influence of Tillage and Feeding. — We have been able to study this question with some care in the course of an examination of 10,000 acres of orchard land in western New York. The evidence in favor of tillage as the most reliable of all methods of managing the soil of the orchard is unmistakably convincing. The orchard tree must be treated as a sufficient crop unto the soil, and not as a mere extraneous adjunct in the management of the farm. There are several methods of manipulating the soil of the orchard, but none gives as large an average return as cultivation. We have found that the yield is increased from 20 to 30 barrels per acre, at a cost of $8 to $10. This added product should yield a gross return of $40 to $60, or a net return of $30 to $50 per acre. The following figures for 20,000 acres in Wayne County, New York, give this information in detail: — Four-YEAR AVERAGES PER ACRE. . Bushels. Tilled five years or more, ei s 266 Tilled most years, : F 229 Sod most years, tilled occasionally, * 202 Sod five years or more, 3 , 148 For Orleans County the returns are higher: — Five-Year AVERAGE PER ACRE. Bushels, Income. Tilled ten years or more, 337 $189 Tillecl five years or more, : 296 148 Tilled over half of preceding five years, 234 121 Sod over half of preceding five vears, . 242 118 Sod five years or more, 258 134 Sod ten years or more, ‘ 232 117 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 21 In this it will be seen that the loss from lack of cultivation amounted to $72 per acre. Can we afford to cultivate? Rather, can we afford to omit cultivation ? II. Renovation of Orchards. There are thousands of acres of old orchards in New England in various degrees of decrepitude, by reason of neglect associated with starvation and natural decay. Some of these may be profitably rejuvenated ; some of them are beyond hope. A tree is a wonder- fully plastic and responsive organism. Orchards apparently hope- less may be renovated by the application of rational methods. Whether an orchard may be renovated profitably will depend upon (a) the variety, (b) the soil, (c) the age and condition of health. Given commercial varieties on reasonably well-drained soil, with heads which do not quite reach the heavens, and the problem of renovation takes the form of a safe business enterprise. Cost anp RETURNS OF A RENOVATED ORCHARD. — It will pay to renovate an apple orchard under the conditions outlined above, and will pay largely in proportion as energy and intelligence are applied. Nothing convinces so well as actual experience. Let me quote a page from the book of experience of an apple grower in Orleans County, New York, as set forth in our survey of Wayne County*: — Story oF A RENOVATED ORCHARD. In 1896 Mr. George Pettit bought a “ run-down ” farm at Kenyon- ville, Orleans County, New York. The farm was neglected, therefore the price paid was not high; 54 acres were bought for $2,200. On the farm was an apple orchard of 11 acres, 2 acres of which had been drowned out, literally killed by standing water, when an outlet could be found not more than 50 yards away into the steep gorge of Oak Orchard Creek; this left 9 acres of orchard with which to work. The trees had been planted in the spring of 1864; i.¢., they were thirty-two years old, and should have been just entering into their prime of pro- duction. The soil on which this orchard stands is Miami silt loam. On the remaining 9 acres the drainage was not perfect. Because of lack of care,‘the trees were older than their actual size would indicate. Pruning and feeding had been sadly neglected, and canker was rapidly unfitting many limbs for the bearing of a crop. Mr. Pettit tells me that it was in about as bad a state as regards care as it could pos- sibly be. The problem of renovation was undertaken with vigor. The water was drained off, the land was plowed, and thus the soil brought into 1 Bulletin No. 226, Cornell University Experiment Station, ‘‘ An Apple Survey of Wayne County.” 22 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. such a condition that the plant food would be available. The trees were freed of dead wood, the worst canker-diseased limbs removed, and the whole orchard was disinfected by the liberal use of Bordeaux mixture and arsenic. Plant food was supplied to produce the first essential crop, viz., new wood. The following tabulates the cultural method : — 1896. — Orchard was in sod; the grass was mowed. 1897. — Orchard was plowed and beans grown. 1898.— Orchard was manured and beans grown again, followed by crimson clover. 1899.— Orchard was manured and crimson clover plowed under. 1900-1904.— Orchard has been manured every year and buckwheat is grown, to be rolled down toward ripening time of the fruit. During the last three years every tree in the orchard received each year one-quarter of a load of manure, to which was added in 1904 for each tree 12 pounds of a good commercial fertilizer, containing 8 per cent. potash and 10 per cent. phosphoric acid. Spraying has always been faithfully done, crop or no crop; for Mr. Pettit knows that he must have a healthy, vigorous tree before he can obtain a profitable crop. Here is the spraying program of the season of 1904: — First Spray.— When blossom buds began to swell. Second Spray.— As soon as the blossoms dropped. Third Spray. — About two weeks after second spray. Fourth Spray.— A partial spray, July 25. This had no apparent effect. The spray used was Bordeaux mixture and Paris green, slightly decreasing the amount of blue vitriol with each successive spraying. This orchard may well be called a “rejuvenated” orchard, for hardly any of the old tree-tops exist now. The Kings, Greenings and Russets have grown entirely new tops in the course of the eight years during which Mr. Pettit has handled the trees, and the Baldwins are doing so, although at a slower rate. I remember one particular Spitzenburg tree which tells the story of many hardships. By continued spraying and generous feeding the many old cankers are nearly overgrown by new wood, and a new top has been produced which looks vigorous and healthy and ready to do business for many years to come. Now, if we want to renovate orchards for business, how does the account of this orchard balance? Is it worth while to borrow money in order to invest it in orchard renovation? Mr. Pettit kindly placed at my disposal an itemized account for the season of 1904. The price charged for team and machinery is large enough to allow for “ wear and tear.” To the debit should be added interest on eapital invested. Every hour of work done in the orchard by the proprietor or by his men has been charged to it. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 23 AppLe ORcHARD. APPLE ORCHARD. June July July Aug. Aug. Aug. Aug. Aug. To 8 days’ hauling and spread- ing manure, at $1.50, To 3 days’ teams for hauling, at $2, To 80 loads of ‘manure, at $1.50, To 14 tons fertilizer, at $20, To 2 days’ pruning, at $2, To 2 days’ hauling brush, To 6 days’ work, spraying, 3 men and team, at $7, To 1 day dragging with 3 horses, To 1 day dragging with 2 horses, To 2 days’ spreading ferti- lizers, To 1 day dragging with 3 horses, To 1 day hoeing around trees, To 1 day with team, . To 1 day cleaning out ditches, To 14 days’ cultivating, at $4, To 33 days’ spraying, at $7, To 1 day getting material, To 30 pounds Paris green, at 18 cents, . To 400 pounds blue vitriol, at 54 cents, . To 4 barrels of lime; at $1. 25, To 1 pair pruning shears, To 1 day of dragging, To 4 day sowing buckwheat, . To spraying, 3 hours, at 70 cents, ; To spraying mixture, : To 7 bushels buckwheat seed, at 75 cents, . To 4 hours’ breaking buck- wheat, To dragging ‘down, buckwheat, lhorse, . To dragging down ‘buckwheat, 1 horse, To propping trees, 2 men and team, To propping trees, 2 men, 24 days, 3 To 1,840 empty barrels, at 36 cents, i To harvesting 1, 840 barrels of fruit and hauling to the railroad, at 25 cents, Balance, 42 es ¥ RPwONoOwO TO WhO WE PR BF WO iw) 2 3 10 662 460 1,260 00 55 $2,722 50 1904. By 1,765 barrels of apples, No. 1, at $1.50, ‘ By 75 barrels of ap- ples, No. 2, at $1, Credit. $2,647 50 75 00 $2,722 50 Thus our account for this year gives a net profit above expenses of $1,260.55. To do justice to the orchard, it is fair to state that at the date when the figures were received there remained about 1,300 bushels of apples in the orchard which might have been sold as evaporating stock, had not the evaporators been filled to their utmost capacity. 24 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. How do the crops taken from the orchard compare with the original investment? It is not possible to give these figures net, as an itemized expense account is not available. The gross returns from the orchard are: — { 1896, ' ; $250 00 1902, ‘ Os . $2,000 00 1897, , 12 00 | 1903, ; . 1,400 00 1898, : . 800 00 | 1904, : . 2,722 50 1899, 200 00 Se 1900, : 1,200 00 Total, $8,884 50 1901, . . 300 00 It will be seen that there is a gradual increase in the amount of the crop; naturally, there exists a corresponding increase in the cost of production and marketing. Thus we have an average return of $987.16 per year, or at the rate of $109.68 per acre gross, or a net return of over $50 per acre. The original price of each acre has been returning every year since the purchase was made. APPLE GROWING ON THE DECLINE IN THE East. Notwithstanding the instances cited, it is a fact that orchard- ing in New England and New York is either stationary or on the decline. That it is on the decline in New England there is no question; the thousands of neglected farmstead orchards witness the truth of the statement. Even in the great commercial apple- growing area of western-New York, where apple growing is a well- established industry, the area has not extended as much as 1 per cent. per annum during the past ten years. Let us remember that this condition prevails in a thoroughly prosperous region, where apple growing is a staple and profitable industry. But, while this represents a condition of the past, I am confi- dent that it in no way represents the condition which will continue during the next decade. Apple orchards are now being planted extensively, and a degree of enthusiasm approaching that of the westerner is manifesting itself in the activities of our New York orchardists. OUTLOOK ror APPLE GROWING. There have been those, and there are those at the present time, who are inclined to think that the apple industry will be overdone in the near future. We can gain some notion of the outlook in this regard by reviewing the apple crops.for the past decade. The year 1896 gave the United States the largest crop in our history ; the CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 25 total yield of the orchards was computed at 69,070,000 barrels. Although since that time thousands of acres of land have been added to the apple-producing area, and while methods of orchard management have improved, yet the reports for 1908 show that the crop in the United States does not exceed 25,000,000 barrels, and the crop of 1896 has never been approximated; in fact, the average annual yield of the United States for the five years from 1902 to 1906 is 38,364,200 barrels. It is true that the crop of 1896 was not a profitable one to the growers; but this was largely due to faulty distribution. Our methods of distributing have been tremendously improved in recent years, our population has vastly increased, and the needs of our people for apples are much greater than they were ten years ago; yet at the present time we have less than half the total product to pffer them. Our European outlet is enlarging, our home consumption is steadily increasing, and there is no reasonable fear of overproduction in the life of the present generation. Fruit-growing countries of Europe do not produce fruit in a commercial way. The amateur method has been so thoroughly implanted in the popular mind that no change is likely to occur for many years to come. If a change does occur, it is altogether likely that the increase in con- sumption will more than care for the increase in production. Tue OPPORTUNITY FOR EXPORT. For the half-decade from 1902 to 1906 inclusive, New England produced an average crop of 3,432,400 barrels of apples. The average annual export has amounted to 600,000 barrels, or an amount equal to 17 per cent. of the whole. The average annual crop of the United States for this same period has been 38,364,200 barrels, and of this amount 1,584,518 barrels, or 4.1 per cent., have been annually exported. It is thus seen that the percentage of apples exported from the New England group of States is considerably higher than that exported from the country as a whole; but when we remember the remarkable strategic position which New England occupies for export facilities, and the further fact that all this region pos- sesses admirable topographic soil and climatic conditions, in addi- tion to vast areas of suitable cheap lands, to which are to be added all the advantages of the best home markets on the continent, we cannot but be amazed that the opportunity is not more completely utilized, and that, instead of producing 3,000,000 barrels annually and buying every year for home consumption apples grown in the 26 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. west, we are not producing 300,000,000 barrels, we are not sup- plying our home demand completely, and we are not shipping the surplus to the horde of waiting consumers in Europe and Britain. The markets of New England are notably high-class markets. No- where else in the country is there a more discriminating class of purchasers, nowhere else in the country are higher prices willingly paid for the best grade of apples; yet-little or no effort is made tight here at the door of these markets to grow the best to the highest state of excellence, and secure control of the best markets in America. Is it not passing strange that many New Englanders, apostles of Horace Greeley, who go into the west, soon experience an abso- lute change of point of view in regard to methods of orchard man- agement? After a few years in the west we find them spending more money in the care of their western orchards on the one item of spraying than they were formerly in the habit of spending on the maintenance of their entire New England farm in the east. This is not overstating the case. We ask, Why this change of front? and we are obliged to answer that such is the force of example. A new country, with its undeveloped possibilities, yet these illus- trated by a few shining examples here and there, awakens faith, develops optimism and encourages the adoption of new systems, at the same time giving an excellent excuse for shaking off the old inertia. The vigorous methods of our western friends are well illustrated in the following item from one of the news mediums of the west, and it gives an excellent example of typical progressive methods, coupled with a certain’ share of true western optimism, —a quality which many of our growers in the east seem to lack : — Spokane Railway Land and Improvement Company, of which F. Lewis Clark of Spokane is president, and owning several large tracts of land along the Spokane & Inland Electric Railway Company’s line into the Palouse country, has sold its magnificent orchard at Waverly, Washington, south of Spokane, for $75,000, to the Waverly Orchards Company recently organized in Spokane. The tract embraces 230 acres, the trees on 65 acres of which are in bearing, while the rest of the land is now being playted under the direction of Cyrus L. Smith, horticulturist. The new company is composed mainly of eastern stockholders, the others interested being local people. The officers are: president, A. D. Thayer, Waverly; vice-president, W. E. Goodspeed, Spokane; secre- tary, F. P. Tebbett, Salem, Mass.; treasurer, R. H. Blom, Exchange Bank, Waverly. John S. Hughes, who has had charge of the property for a year, will remain as manager, and Professor Smith will continue CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 27 as supervising horticulturist, with Professor Thornber as consulting horticulturist. The company will avail itself of every facility to utilize all its by- products. A large packing and warehouse will be built on the land adjoining the electric railway company’s tracks, and in connection the company will operate a drying and canning plant, also cider and vinegar works. When acquired by the Railway Land and Improvement Company, the land was in poor condition because of lack of care. The company spent thousands of dollars in pruning and cultivation during the last few years, until to-day no orehard in the State of Washington is in better condition. Here we have an example of a typical Oregon fruit-growing enterprise. Now, we must remember that fruit in these regions is not exempt from the enemies which attack it here in the east. It is subject to the same insect and fungous foes as fruit growing in Massachusetts or any other New England State. In fact, it costs much more to protect the apple from its wormy enemies in the Elysian fields of Oregon and Washington than it does on the hillsides of New England. Again, apple land costs four or five times more than it can be bought for in this older group of States; labor is considerably higher. The product may be somewhat handsomer in appearance, but variety for variety is certainly not equal in quality; and, finally, it is 2,000 miles farther from the markets of the continent and from the gateway of foreign export. But these men are succeeding. The spirit of fruit growing is on them; the enthusiasm which brings success is theirs; therefore, let us say, “ All honor to the men who are putting brains, business methods and energy into this industry; let us wish abundantly of the success which is sure to reward their efforts. Let us emulate their enthusiasm and imitate the best of their practice.” PACKING AND MARKETING. The factors which have acted as mainsprings in the promotion of the fruit industry of the Pacific slope are fine appearance, uni- formity of grade and pack, and co-operation in handling the prod- uct. Our orcharding methods are deplorably bad, but no worse than our grading and packing system. Of 63,456 barrels of Bald- wins? shipped from Boston to a British agent in a recent year, 15,242, or practically one-quarter of the whole number, were slack 1 Taylor, in report of New Hampshire Horticultural Society, 1907. 28 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. or wet. In the same season 13 per cent. of 3,000 barrels from Portland were similarly listed. The depreciation on these two shipments would represent a loss of not less than $40,000. The package we have been using—— the barrel —is neither con- venient, economical nor conducive to honesty. The large package gives special opportunity for careless methods or dishonest practices, while the small package encourages careful grading and the produc- tion of a fine article. We need legislation covering packing and packages. It is no less a dishonest act to place culls in the center of a barrel of apples than to adulterate an article of food with an inferior substance. Let us work towards securing uniform packages, uniform methods of packing and uniform standards which shall govern our grades. Here is a great opportunity for co-operation in New England. A movement embracing the adop- tion of these principles and aiming to secure legislation has been under way in New England for several years, and this year sub- stantial progress has been made by the adoption of specific require- ments governing packages and packing by the Maine State Pomological Society at its last session. Other States will un- doubtedly follow, but this conference gives unequaled opportunity for furthering the project. INTERESTING CAPITAL. Why should men of means and the young men of our country be more willing to go to the Pacific coast and invest from $200 to $400 per acre in unimproved land, 2,000 miles or more from the great markets of the United States, than to invest a quarter of these amounts in orchard enterprises near the center of consump- tion and at the gateway of the foreign market? Can we not pro- duce a satisfactory product? Unquestionably, yes. No country under the sun can produce better quality in the apples of New England origin than the soil and climate of New England itself. Then why this apathy at home, this activity in relation to distant lands? Probably the human desire for the new, the somewhat spec- ulative, leads men into untried fields; but, more than all, the evidence of the practical man is satisfyingly convincing. What we need in New England are men with the same faith, the same optimism and energy that eastern men acquire when they cast in their lot with the westerner. Given an equal amount of energy, resource, industry and methods, properly applied in the CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 29 east, and we shall see a new era dawn upon orcharding in New England. The attention of men of money should be directed to the New England apple as a profitable investment. We need DEMONSTRATION ORCHARDS. In the ever-changing field of human progress, it is continually necessary to keep before the eyes and minds of the people certain lessons in those farm industries which do not produce the abso- lutely essential, but which may be ranked in the group of those products which are sometimes classed as luxuries. The sum of past experience is quite sufficient to warrant any man engaging in fruit growing in New England with every assurance of success. The sum of past and present experience is sufficient to give him the fundamental, practical essentials leading to success. But education in all lines must necessarily be of a perpetual type, because present-day lessons are soon forgotten, and old facts must be continually resurrected and exploited for the benefit of the on- coming generations. So it is in orcharding. The attention of the fruit growers of the east is being focussed on the great success attending up-to-date methods practised by energetic, industrious, business fruit growers in the west. What we need here in the east at the present time are practical demonstrations of the apple-growing possibilities of our own hillsides and cheap land areas. We need illustration or dem- onstration orchards. These are not to be regarded in the light of experiment ventures, but enterprises which are to demonstrate a thoroughly feasible proposition. These demonstration orchards should be so distributed over every New England State as to include the characteristic and suitable orchard lands and sites. They should be planted and carried on in a businesslike way and under combined State and local supervision. The orchards should show an exact account of expenditures and revenues. They should not attempt novel experiments. They should be planted with the most approved commercial varieties, on the most approved commercial plan, and they should be conducted upon thoroughly practical and businesslike principles. While this is a type of paternalism which may be open to crit- icism, yet it seems to me that it is no more paternalism on the part of the State than the federal policy which is developing the dry lands of the west. Here are truly “dry lands” in the east, which are unproductive, mainly because of the pressure of other industries in the east and the immediate superior attractions of farm husbandry in the west. 30 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. CoNCLUSIONS. In summing up, then, we may safely conclude that New Eng- land’s opportunities in apple growing are practically unequalled on the continent. There is an abundance of cheap land; the soil and climate develop a product of fine appearance and high quality ; the gateways to the export market are on our own coast, while a home market of the most discriminating and appreciative kind is at our very doors. The possibilities of the fruit industry have been temporarily obscured by the wonderful development of the manufacturing arts. To re-direct attention to this fundamental of national prosperity, New England should establish and maintain (1) a series of demonstrations showing the practical feasibility of renovating old orchards; (2) a series of demonstrations showing the profitable nature of present-day orcharding by up-to-date methods; (3) and, finally, should encourage the consumption of fruit by providing for uniformity in the grade of fruit and in the container or package. I have characterized the condition and have offered some sug- gestions for improving it. My own faith is strong in the belief of a re-direction and re-establishment of New England’s fruit in- dustry — apple growing — on a firm basis in the near future. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 31 SUGGESTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS BY THE DELEGATES. Mr. HERBERT MyRIcK oF SPRINGFIELD. The first thing we must do in this tree matter is to graft the tree onto the school. We must get hold of the children of the ris- ing generation. This is a simple matter, if you know how. Let the State Forester, for instance, take the white pine as an ex- ample, —a most wonderful tree, a tree that will turn our waste lands into gold mines,— and let him prepare for the teachers a pamphlet descriptive of this tree. I say for the teachers, not the pupils. Let the pupils go out and collect the tree seed and plant it and raise seedlings. Let them transplant the seedlings and study the operations of that tree in its growth from year to year. Then add onto that work the reading, writing and arithmetic of the school. Let the children learn to do by doing. They have had too many books. Let them get down to business, — the real thing. What will be the result? They will become filled with ‘enthusiasm. They will take up the rest of their work also, and do it much better ; and instead of coming out of school weak and pasty and putty- like, they will come out with some ginger in them. That is what we must have here in New England. Then for the higher education. Why, the tree embodies nearly all the sciences, and what the tree does not embody, the soil does. Do you realize what a handful of mother earth means? Here is life and death, action and reaction, electricity, vibration, etc. Here is every science, — mineralogy, geology, chemistry, botany and bi- ology in all its forms. Mother earth, — why, she is the womb of humanity. She is the common expression of the universal Divinity. She is the burial place of men. All who tread the earth are but a handful to the tribes that slumber in her bosom. Not only that, but the mysteries of the soil, the life, etc., take you ever into the farthest realms of contemplation, aye, even into the highest ab- stract thought. This new education, this idea of letting the child learn by doing, 32 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. this industrial teaching, is coming, — it is coming fast. It has re- ceived an immense impetus. Only ten days ago by that closing address prepared for the convention in Springfield by that man who is going down into history as the great conservator of American resources, — Theodore Roosevelt, he indicates that he stands for this great policy of practical education, the useful education, the helpful education, as well as agricultural education. This new policy of national co-operation in this technical education is all set forth in the Davis bill that is now before Congress, —a bill that will help every State in the Union as well as New England. We want our New England Senators and Congressmen to take their coats off and put that bill through before the 4th of March. Another thing we want these gentlemen in Congress to do is to give us our White Mountain reserve. There is apparently no ex- cuse for that bill not having passed during the last session. Per- haps you think this is giving it to you strongly, but you need it. New England has twelve votes in the Senate and about forty votes in the House. If our Senators and Representatives really wanted New England forest reserve they could get it, and they know how to get it. Pror. FRANK W. RANE, STATE FoRESTER OF MASSACHUSETTS. I have been exceedingly interested in the papers this afternoon, as anybody who loves agriculture and who looks toward the future of New England must be. The keynote of this conference, it seems to me, ought to be high. There is no question but that our young men and many of our business men have gone to the west. The lands that were once free and open and easy to get, the forest lands that could formerly be gotten readily, are gone. I believe Professor Craig spoke of the prices that prevail in New England. That is absolutely true. The people of New England have been developing the west. Governor Guild sent me to the National Irrigation Congress which met last year in California and this year in New Mexico. The spirit and enthusiasm of that organiza- tion is very great. If we could have it here in New England, we could go so far ahead of them that they would not know where they were at. A great many men originally from New England came and talked with me, and about half the conference seemed to be made up of New England people. Talk about their land producing $150 per acre, — look right here around Boston. The market-gardening industry was not touched upon to-day. There is the apple industry, and agriculture CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 33 of all sorts, shapes and descriptions. We are farming around Bos- ton on land worth $1,000 to $3,000 per acre, and covering it with glass houses, and the market stands behind the farmer. The time is right for the business man to see the opportunity, and it takes business men. This work should be developed along definite lines, and that is the only way in which we can get anywhere. Education, if you please, all along forestry lines. The question of forestry is the one nearest to me. Lots of our people have never seen a pine seed, and they wonder whether pines sprout from hardwood sometimes. J sent out a little pamphlet, entitled “ How and when to collect White Pine Seed,” last year, and now children are sending in pine seeds. I got a letter from a large wholesale seeds- man last week, and he said the whole seed trade had been de- moralized by the pamphlet we sent out, which showed that the people were interested in this matter. This work must go hand in hand with agriculture. Our farmers ought to take hold of a lot of farms that have been used for pasture purposes heretofore. Dairy animals must be nurtured on soiling crops and concentrated foods, and not allowed to travel over these waste lands hunting for something to eat. This would mean a large increase in our forest growth, particularly of white pine. What is white pine? If we were to move out of Massachusetts or New England to-morrow, in the course of a hundred years it would all be grown up to forest. This is indicative as to how we may return these waste lands to forests, not only from an economic and ewsthetic standpoint at present, but from the standpoint of the great future of this country. We have a natural ideal country where people delight to come in the summer. [ven after cutting our timber, there are still great possibilities of economy and beauty in the hills. When we can get our lumbermen and saw-mill men to see things as they are, they are the very men who will return these lands to forestry; and I believe it is necessary to attack this undertaking along well-directed lines. I believe it is necessary to pass laws to restrict fires. Look at the fires running rampant all over the United States this past year. We have had some very good legislation the past year. The 321 forest wardens that were appointed in Massachusetts last year are men I pride myself on to-day. They stood right by me this summer, and stopped many of the fires that would otherwise have been very destructive. Forestry goes hand in hand with general agriculture. Let us concentrate our industry on the best lands, putting them into apple and other farm crops. Then the rest of 34 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. the land which is not adapted to anything else let us plant to forest trees, and in twenty-five to forty years they will be a bless- ing, if we can keep out fires. In regard to publications, we are endeavoring to publish in- formation which will be of most benefit to this State. I believe it is a splendid idea, and I hope the keynote of this organization will be that we may go ahead and do something. We have the opportunity here in Massachusetts and New England, and I believe we are made of the kind of stuff to do the work. Mr. J. H. Hatz, Fruit Grower, or SouUTH GLASTONBURY, CoNN. I certainly rejoice that you brought my friend Professor Craig here to-day to say a word about New England orchards and New England opportunities, and that you yourselves had faith enough to bring that topic before a New England audience, because the great trouble in New England in the past has been lack of faith in the soil. You gentlemen in New England who have had money to invest have been ready to invest in New England manufactures and industries, in western railroads and western land. booms, but you ‘had not faith enough in New England land. Professor Craig told you here to-day how some of you Massachusetts people go to Oregon and other parts of the west and spend enormous sums of money to produce apples. Here are apples grown on that land, and here are apples grown in Massachusetts. Which is which? This represents $300-an-acre land, and this represents $20-an-acre land. You New England capitalists will invest your money in the western enterprise because it is 3,000 miles away, and you have faith in it. I know of a New England orchardist who tried to get some of you to put money in New England orchards, and you would not do it. You had not the faith. I am glad Your Excellencies have great faith in New England orcharding, because it is worth building upon. As Professor Craig has told you, New England can produce as beautiful apples as grow in the west, and can grow even better apples. We have the soil, we have the climate, and, better than all that, we have the market, — New England has the mar- ket. This is a beautiful western apple, and it cost $300 a car to get that to the Boston market. This is a New England apple just as good, and the consumer is ready to drive to the orchard and take it away, and if he does not come and get it you would only have to pay $40 a car to get it into the hands of almost one-half the population of the United States. That ought to appeal to Yankees. That is business, —and IJ take it that is what we are CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 35 here for. There is another western apple and another New England apple. Which will you have? The land is here, the opportunity is here, and the man with faith is all that is needed. If those young men whom I saw at New Haven Saturday had some of the faith and energy in New England soil that they exhibited there, and if they would plant some apples, instead of studying law and hoping to be Governors, they would be many times better off. This is a greater opportunity for a graduate of Harvard or Yale than in any other industry to-day, and a lot more fun. We are running six or seven experiment stations in New Eng- land. I think these stations are duplicating each other too much. I think we could have the experiment station in one State work on one line, and that of another State on some other line. A uniform package law is another thing we need, and if you can get the grower to get rid of the second-hand barrel and the box, so much the better. Governor Guitp. Do you think it would be well for the Legislatures to take up the question of compulsory spraying ? Mr. Hatz. That is a very serious proposition. Under present conditions, a man with a large or a small orchard, as it may be, may follow the best of methods laid down by our experimental stations, and if his neighbor over the fence does nothing, he will be infested. Of course J am quite an independent Yankee, and do not like to be interfered with, but we never can produce our best until our neighbors do equally well. It is a serious proposi- tion. The San José scale infests the trees, and in Springfield, Hartford, etc., where a man takes care of his trees and gives them a reasonable amount of sprinkling, if his next-door neighbor does nothing, he will probably infest the first man thoroughly by the next year. JI wish the disease were bad enough to wipe out the fellow from the earth who will not take care of his trees. If it would kill all the trees and plants not cared for in one year, we would be glad. Mr. E. Cyrus Mituer or HayDENVILLE, Mass., APPLE GROWER. In my opinion and judgment, the importance and dignity of this conference demand that the words spoken here by each one taking part shall be as few and well chosen as is compatible with the proper expression of one’s convictions on the various topics under consideration. In the first place, I beg to say that I am not dependent upon the national government, the State or the 36 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. college for any portion of my income; my only visible means of support is the farm and the orchard, of which fact I am truly and profoundly proud. My knowledge of the theoretical phases of orcharding has been acquired through burning the midnight oil, and my practical training has been in establishing, developing and maintaining one of the largest orchard propositions in New Eng- land. The experience which I have thus gained, together with the result of observation in all sections of our New England States, leads me to certain conclusions as to the absolute necessity of cer- tain legislative action in all of our States to better promote and conserve the interests of our farmer fruit growers, as well as to advertise to the world at large the effort that is being made to assist in the development of an industry that, in my opinion, should be second only to our great dairy industry. Nature has richly endowed us with suitable soils, favorable climatic conditions and splendid varieties, and we have but to work with her to produce conditions which should at least approximate the ideal. In my judgment, each of our New England States should have a State Orchardist, whose duties, in a broad and general way, should be to promote the interests of fruit growing, and whose special work should be to assist and counsel those who already have orchards or those who may desire to become orchardists. He should be well grounded in theory, and should have had a practical experience that will have demonstrated the correctness of his theories. We have our commissioners and secretaries of agricul- ture. We have our agricultural colleges, with their corps of well- trained men in their special departments. But I ask you frankly, do we have any one who fills the place of one that should be ap- pointed to do a certain work and to promote a particular industry? While success. primarily and finally depends upon the individual, much of the agricultural uplift of which we hear much of late must come through taking to the door and into the home of the farmer certain truths, and presenting them in an earnest, tactful and businesslike manner. There should be uniform laws in each of our New England States to protect farmers and orchardists against the ravages of the deer. I shudder at the thought of some time finding our young apple trees injured by these animals, as I have found them in many sections of New England. As the laws are now framed, orcharding in many sections is a most hazardous and uncertain proposition. To macerate and mutilate a young fruit tree is a most serious thing, in my judgment. It robs the farmer of time, — a most valu- able asset to the orchardist. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 37 There should be laws more strenuously regulating the dog nui- sance. The sheep and the apple industry would form a most perfect combination in many sections of New England. I would like to keep sheep in a portion of our orchards, but I dare not, under present conditions of redress in case of loss. As a last suggestion, I beg to offer that of uniform legislation regarding packages and the grading and marking of fruit. This has got to come before the best interests of grower, dealer and con- sumer are conserved. It is in this work that the State Orchardist would play an important part, for the work must be largely instruc- tive and educational, and penalties should be only the last resort. Mr. Puitre H. Ayres, Franconia, N. H., State FORESTER OF New HAMPSHIRE. I rise chiefly to make an announcement. The bill for national forests in the White Mountains and southern Appalachian Moun- tains passed the Senate at the last session of Congress. Through the request of your Congressman, John \V. Weeks and other Con- gressmen, a hearing has been arranged by the House Committee on Agriculture, for further consideration of this bill, on the 9th of December. This is the day following that on which the Gov- ernors are to meet the National Conservation Commission, and I would like to have this meeting ask the Governors of the several New England States to co-operate even more strongly than hitherto, in order that, if possible, we may overcome the one opposition that this bill has found anywhere. It has the endorsement of every prominent scientific society in the country; it has the endorse- ment of the people unanimously; and we have found only one opposition, namely, the leaders of the House of Representatives. We now have a chance, however, and we want through the Gov- ernors to bring the States into co-operation, so that the business men and members of municipal and State governments will be represented at Washington on the 9th of December, to show Con- gress that the people mean business when they ask for this forest reserve bill, providing one for the north and the other for the south. While I have the floor, I beg to offer one suggestion relative to forest work in New England. In the State of Massachusetts we have an admirably developed forest service, following the splen- did example of the forest service at Washington; in the other New England States we have not. There are many important forestry questions before the people of New England, not the least of which is the taxation of forest land. This and many other questions 38 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. are coming up, but we cannot solve them until we have State forest service in all our States, and therefore I would beg to recommend that those States that have not such a service should adopt one. I am employed by the State Forestry Association, and not by the State of New Hampshire. We need in New Hampshire a State Forester, who can protect and help to cultivate sentiment which will further protect the State from the ravages of forest fires. This suggestion I am going to leave with you. Mr. A. W. Exson or BeLtMont, Mass., TREASURER, MAssacHU- SETTS FoRESTRY ASSOCIATION. I wish to say that I do not speak officially at all for the Forestry Association, and my only reason for asking an opportunity to speak was to bring forth a certain suggestion which I had to make. In the first place, I want to say that I am not in any way a trained forester. J want further to say that I am not a lawyer. There is one point, however, which I think is of general interest to us, and which should be spoken of. The thing which is first in order, apart from tree planting in Massachusetts, is tree conservation in forestry. If I am rightly informed, there are two great enemies to that conservation, — one is fire and the other is taxation. The nature of timber land is different from other land that is used for cultivation. The fire question has already had partial attention, and no doubt the Massachusetts laws will be so revised finally as to give it as complete attention as can be given. The taxation ques- tion, however, is one that has been unsolved. You hear of indi- vidual instances from time to time of gentlemen who say they bought a certain piece of land with the idea of taking out timber from time to time, but find that the taxes are being so increased that they cannot afford to hold the land. The forestry problem as a whole, it seems to me, must be treated by the State as a whole; that is, we cannot allow it to rest upon individual taxation by individual towns. That at once carries our minds along to the idea of a State regulation of the whole matter of forests. We can see now that, although we have national problems in New England in the Appalachian reservation, we have also local problems. We have a State problem, and we may have a municipal problem later. It had occurred to me, in connection with that view of the matter, that in all cuttings that might have to be made land situ- ated throughout the State and owned by individuals might be treated as a whole. In other words, we might have something like a forestry commission, and arrange so that cutting in the State CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 39 of Massachusetts, for example, should be by license. That sounds like a burden, but it might possibly be done. That idea also leads to another one which seems possible, and that is this; if we cut by license it means that all the forest lands (I am not talking of small ones, as these might be made exempt) would be directly under the supervision of this forestry commission, or whatever it might be termed. With that in mind, we could perhaps develop some method of taxation upon the correct basis of taxation, namely, taxation upon groups, and not upon individual valuations by one board of assessors here and another there. We could possibly take these lands under State supervision, so that the tax might be col- lected very much as the corporation tax is collected in Massachu- setts, and distributed among the towns wherein the stock is owned proportionately. We might see how that tax collected in all the forests cut could be distributed to the towns in which the forest stood, the town thereby getting finally its complete taxation. The whole matter is a problem, just the same as the gypsy moth problem. The moment we began to deal with the gypsy moth we found that it was a State problem; and this question also cannot be treated by individual towns or by municipal taxation, I believe. It has somehow got to be State taxation and State supervision. This is only suggestion, and is not a well-digested thing, but I merely give it for what it is worth. Conclusion. Governor GuILp. We have had some very valuable suggestions presented in regard to better laws for packing and marking, the need of laws for protection against deer, etc. I have received several letters from people interested in orchards in regard to the damage done by scale, and I would like to ask Professor Craig’s opinion on that same subject. Does he think it wise that uniformity of laws should be considered for the compulsory spraying of orchard trees, so that the diligent and progressive orchard owner should not be damaged by the careless and slack condition of his neigh- bor’s orchard ? Professor Craig. If that question had been asked of me five years ago, I should have said yes,— the orchardist who cares for his orchard should be protected; but one’s views change on these questions as the years go on, and I am inclined to think now that the battle is to the strong; that natural selection will weed out the man who does not spray; and that as our orchard and fruit growing progresses it will become more and more so that if a man 40 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. wants to be commercially successful he must spray. In my opinion, scale will be universal, despite any legislative methods that can be offered to prevent it, in all the sections in which the insect naturally propagates. It will spread over all the country where peach growing is an industry. The northern limits of peach growing seem to be about the northern limits of the natural development of that insect which we brought over from Japan. Just in that connection we ought to have a strict quarantine and inspection law against foreign insects. We ought to keep them out; but after an insect of that kind gets in, it is very difficult to legislate it from one State to another State. I think, then, that it is an individual problem with the grower. The successful grower is the man who will keep after his orchard day in and day out, and he is the only man who will succeed. I do not believe, in the light of my present understanding of the problem, that legislation will do much to restrict scale or help the man who sprays well. He must spray well anyway; he must take care of his orchard. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 41 PROCEEDINGS OF SECOND SESSION. NOVEMBER 24, 1908, 10 A.M. THE PRESERVATION AND PROPAGATION OF THE LOBSTER. By Francis H. Herrick, SpecisL INvesTiGATOR, UNITED STaTEs BuREAU or FISHERIES. The problem of preserving or restoring a natural food supply of a nation is sufficiently difficult in itself, though supported by all the knowledge which natural science can supply. If the sup- porting arm of science is necessary, the co-operation of the people is equally indispensable. Where, as in the present case, the in- terests of at least five sovereign States are materially involved, how much more difficult do such questions become; and without co- operation how impossible of solution. Mv first word is therefore one of congratulation to Governor Guild and to all who are re- sponsible for this conference of States. It is the consummation of the desires of every thoughtful citizen and worker in the field and laboratory for the past twenty years. Whether entire agreement can now be reached upon every question, or not, all must agree that the right step has been taken, and we may look to the future for reports of progress that is real, if not for immediate success. The lobster is easily the king of the crustacean class, and, though neither fish, flesh, fowl nor good red herring, he is excellent eating, and that his tribe may increase is a wish generally felt and often expressed.! Unfortunately, for many years past we have watched 1 While the public seems to demand the lobster in ever-increasing quantities, some diversity of opinion naturally occurs. Thus one person recently wrote that he must have at least one lobster a week, no matter what the price; while another expressed the fervent wish that this animal might be exterminated, — wiped completely off the map, — since it had given him so many hours of sorrow and repentance. Such expressions as the last, however, have their brighter side when we reflect upon the diminishing supplies now reaching the markets in many places. 42 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. this race decline, until the goal of commercial extinction, not far remote in the future, seems to await the entire fishery. What is the matter with the lobster? Let us glance very briefly into economic and zodlogical history, before trying to find the right answer. The lobster has attracted many naturalists and other observers, both in this country and in Europe, especially during the past fifteen years, until it has become the focus of a wide literature, and few marine animals are now so well known. The main biological facts concerning this classi- cal type are well in hand, and excuse can no longer be offered on the ground of ignorance. White men caught lobsters in Massachusetts Bay for the first time early in the seventeenth century. The Pilgrims and English- men who began to flock into the bay colony about the year 1630 were well acquainted with the products of the sea in their old home, and the coast of New England supplied their tables with essen- tially the same kinds, only in far greater abundance. It is said, indeed, that the Pilgrims began at once to pay their debts, due in England, out of the products of their fisheries. In the chronicles of those early days the lobster is honored with frequent mention, and the early colonists must have enjoyed to the full both the new and the familiar kinds of American fish, lobsters, crabs and clams, so big, so palatable, so abundant, and so cheap everywhere along this coast. Indeed, one would think there was no need of starvation, with lobsters and the other forms of sea food to be had on every shore. To quote from Mrs. EHarle,) the minister, Higginson, writing of Salem lobsters, said that many weighed twenty-five pounds apiece, and that “the least boy in the plantation may catch and eat what he will of them.” Again, in 1623, when the ship “ Anne” brought over many of the families of the earlier Pilgrims, the only feast of welcome which the latter had to offer was “a lobster or a piece of fish without bread or anything else but a cup of spring water.” The Pilgrim lobsters “ five or six feet long,” ascribed to New York Bay, take us back one hundred years farther, to the time of Olaus Magnus, who wrote that in the Orkneys and the Hebrides these animals were so huge that they could catch a strong swimmer and squeeze him to death in their claws. At this point it will be interesting to observe that in a tabulated list of some fourteen of the biggest lobsters ever captured on the Atlantic coast, and for which authentic weights or measurements have been preserved, the 1 Earle, Alice Morse: ‘‘ Home Life in Colonial Days,” p. 117. New York, 1898. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 43 giant among them all weighed 34 pounds, and measured exactly 2334 inches from spine to tail. All of them are males, and this one was caught off the Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, in 1897, was kept for a time alive at the Aquarium in New York, and its skeleton may now be seen at the American Museum of Natural History in that city. No doubt the Pilgrims would measure a lobster as some fishermen do now, with the big claws stretched to their fullest extent in front of the head. In this condition the actual length of the animal is about doubled, so that the length of our New Jersey record breaker, when distended in this way, would reach nearly four feet, and the Pilgrim six-foot lobsters have been stretched at least two. In an account of marketing in Boston in 1740 “ oysters and lob- sters” are mentioned “in course the latter in large size at 3 half- pence each,” and this abundance continued for over one hundred years. To revert at once to modern times, it is not necessary to dwell upon the increase in price to the consumer which has followed the decrease in the supply of this animal. Many no doubt remember when lobsters were sold by the piece, and at a few pennies at that. Five years ago, with a market price of 25 cents per pound, a lobster weighing 3 pounds 914 ounces cost, at an inland market in New Hampshire, 90 cents.. The clear meat of the claws and tail of this animal, which had a fairly hard shell, were found to constitute but 27 per cent. of the whole. This would bring the cost of such meat to 90 cents per.pound. Even when every edible part of this animal was saved, which is seldom or never done, the total waste was found to be 45 per cent., and the cost of all edible parts 45 cents per pound. At the present retail prices of from 30 to 35 cents per pound, these estimates would have to be considerably increased. According to Mr. Richard Rathbun,’ who was the first to give us a history of the American lobster fisheries, this fishery as a sep- arate industry began towards the close of the eighteenth or the beginning of the nineteenth century, and was first developed on the coast of Massachusetts and in the region of Cape Cod and Boston, some fishing being “done as early as 1810 among the Elizabeth Islands and on the coast of Connecticut.” “ Strangely enough, this industry was not extended to the coast of Maine, where it subsequently attained its greatest proportions, until about 1840.” 1“ The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States,” Vol. II., sect. v, part xxi. Washington, 1887. 44 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. The early white men learned many lessons in fishing from the Indians, and doubtless those living upon the coast in the course of time began to supply others more remote, until the Cape Cod region, having become famous, attracted fishermen with their smacks from Connecticut and from other States, and supplied most of the lobsters consumed both in Boston and New York for fifty years, or until the middle of the nineteenth century. As early as 1812, as Mr. Rathbun remarks, the citizens of Province- town, realizing the danger of exhausting their fishing grounds, succeeded in having a protective law enacted through the State Legislature, apparently the first but not the last of its kind, for legal restrictions, including this statute, have been in force ever since. But this measure was designed to protect the fishermen rather than the lobster, for it was merely declared illegal for any one not a resident of the Commonwealth to take lobsters from Provincetown without a permit. The laws later enacted proved of little or no avail; by 1880 the period of prosperity had long passed, and few lobsters were then taken from the Cape. Only eight decrepit men were then engaged in the business, and were earning about $60 apiece. This great local fishery was thus rapidly exhausted by over-fishing, and it has never recuperated. The history at Cape Cod has been repeated on one and another ‘section of the coast, from Delaware to Maine, and is already well advanced in the greatest lobster fishing grounds of the world, the ocean and gulf coasts of the British Maritime Provinces of Canada, especially of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and in Newfound- land. Every local fishery has either passed through, or is now passing through, the following stages: — 1. Period of plenty: lobsters large, abundant, cheap; traps and fishermen few. 2. Period of rapid extension: beginning in Canada about 1870, and much earlier in the older fishing regions of New England; greater supplies each year to meet a growing demand; lobsters in fair size and of moderate price. 3. Period of real decline, though often interpreted as one of increase: fluctuating yield, with tendency to decline, to prevent which we find a rapid extension of areas fished, multiplication of fishermen, traps and fishing gear or apparatus of all kinds: de- crease in size of all lobsters caught, and consequently of those bearing eggs; steadily increasing prices. 4. General decrease all along the line, except in price to the consumer, and possibly in that paid the fisherman. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 45 The official statistics for this State and for Canada afford per- tinent illustrations of the older and newer phases of this history. Thus, in Massachusetts in 1890, 373 fishermen, working 19,554 traps, caught 1,612,129 lobsters of legal size and 70,909 egg-bearing females, with an average catch per pot of 82. Fifteen years later it required 287 fishermen, working 13,829 traps, to produce about one-quarter the number of lobsters, or 426,471, and less than one- seventh the number of egg-bearing lobsters, or 9,865; while the catch per trap had diminished by nearly two-thirds, and was only 31. No substantial increase followed until 1907, when the legal length was reduced to 9 inches, and this increase was undoubtedly due to the large number of small lobsters caught. The lobster fisheries of Canada, which next to those of the codfish and salmon are most valuable to the Dominion, have yielded from 1869 to 1906 inclusive, a period of thirty-seven years, a grand total of $83,291,553. In 1897 the produce of this fishery was 23,721,554 pounds, valued at $3,485,265. Ten years later, in 1906, the yield had dropped to 10,132,000 pounds, but, though less than one-half as great, it had nearly the same value, namely, $3,422,927. Notwithstanding the increased cost to the consumer, even in Canada the total value of the fishery has begun to fall, the product for 1906 being less by half a million dollars than that of 1905. The lobster grounds of the Atlantic coast were the finest the world has ever produced, a field, according to one estimate, 7,000 miles in length, when measured along the curve of the shores, and extending full 1,300 miles in a straight line from Delaware to Labrador, with a width reaching out to 50 miles or more from the coast. In Canada alone 100,000,000 lobsters have been captured in a single year. If properly dealt with, it would seem as if this vast natural preserve should have yielded lobsters in abundance and in fair size for generations and even centuries to come. But instead, lean and still leaner years soon followed those of plenty, first in the older and more accessible regions of the fishery, until the decline, which has been watched for more than three decades, has ex- tended to practically every part of this vast area. The lobster fisheries of the old world, and especially the more important industries of Norway and Great Britain, when they came to be pursued with the system and energy characteristic of modern conditions, have experienced a similar decline, and upon the whole attempts have been made to meet it in a similar way and with the same result. The treatment has been of the 46 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNOBS. symptomatic kind, and the real cause of the difficulty has not been reached. Sweden, indeed, is said to have felt the need of pro- tective measures two hundred years ago, and to have framed the first laws regulating her lobster fishery in 1686. In 1865 the export of lobsters from Norway, to England chiefly, reached nearly 2,000,000 in numbers. Already as early as 1838 protective meas- ures were being vigorously discussed, and it was proposed to establish a gauge-limit of 8 inches; but this was rejected, and a close season (July 15 to September 30, and later extended from July to November) adopted instead. From 1883 to 1887 about 1,000,000 lobsters were captured on the Norwegian coast yearly, having a value of 640,000 francs ($128,000), a large part of the product being consumed in the interior, and the rest exported alive. While this small fishery has maintained itself better than most, it has probably suffered still greater reduction in recent years, but at this moment the later statistics are not available. The yield of the lobster fisheries in the British Islands has in some years reached a total of 3,000,000 lobsters, and complaints of a diminishing supply have been loud and frequent. This would be a little over a third more than the returns of the Massachusetts fishery in 1888, with its higher gauge of 101% inches at that time. What means have been adopted here and in other parts to check the decline of this fishery, so general and so universally acknowl- edged? The more important restrictive measures enacted at sundry times and in divers places have been as follows: (1) Closed seasons, of various periods in different localities. (2) The legal gauge or length limit; namely: 9 inches in New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut; 1014 inches in Maine and New Hampshire, and in Massachusetts until reduced to 9 inches in 190%; 8 inches in Norway and England; and 8, 9 and 101% inches in different dis- tricts of Canada; in all cases penalizing the capture and sale of all lobsters under these limits, and legalizing the destruction of all adults above the gauge. (3) “Egg-lobster” laws, or the prohibition of the destruction of female lobsters carrying their external eggs. In addition to such legislative enactments, efforts of a constructive character have been made as follows: (4) To increase the supply of lobsters in the sea by fry or larve artificially hatched and immediately liberated, and, as practised chiefly in Can- ada, by holding the berried lobsters in large enclosures, called lobster pounds, ponds, preserves or parks, and subsequently setting them free when the young are ready to hatch. (5) By the rearing 1“ Les Pécheries de la Norwége,” Exposition Universelle de 1889 4 Paris. Bergen, 1889. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 47 method lately being introduced of holding the fry artificially hatched, and rearing them until the fourth or fifth stages, when they go to the bottom, and are able to take care of themselves. We cannot at present enter into other legislative channels, such as laws prohibiting the sale of broken or picked-out lobster meat, the operation of canneries, or the construction of gear, however neces- sary they may be for this fishery. We must devote our attention to those subjects of most vital concern to the fisheries as a whole. The most important things to consider first are: (2) the legal length limit; and (4) the hatching and immediate liberation of the young, because they are fundamentally related, have been long on trial, and have entailed great expense. That they have had a fair trial and that they have signally failed all must admit. No doubt there are many who are ready to affirm that the present laws would be good enough, if enforced. Most people are aware that the gauge law has not been rigidly carried out, and that the illegal sale of short lobsters has become a trade of big proportions. I know very well that at many times of the year it is possible to buy short lobsters (said to come from Baltimore) in the markets of Cleveland and of other towns in the great middle west, but nevertheless I cannot share this idea. Both of these measures were bound to fail, and would have failed whether the short lob- sters were destroyed or not. To come back to our question, What is the matter with the lobster, or with our means of fostering it? We have committed a series of grave errors in dealing with this fishery, to the chief of which, the gauge law, the others have been contributory. First, by legalizing the capture of the large adult animals, above 1014 inches in length, we have destroyed the chief egg- producers, upon which the race in this animal, as in every other, must depend. Sccond, as supporting or contributory causes, some of us now, like others in the past, have entertained false ideas upon the biology of this animal, especially (a) upon the value of the eggs or their rate of survival, that is, the ratio between the eggs and the adults which come from them, and (b) of the true significance to the fisheries of the breeding habits, especially in regard to the time and frequency of spawning and the fosterage or carriage of the eggs. Our practices have been neither logical nor consistent, for, while we have overestimated the amount of gold in the egg, we have killed the goose which lays it. We have thought the eggs so valuable that we have been to great trouble and expense in collecting and afterwards hatching them and com- 48 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. mitting the young to the mercy of the sea, while we have legalized the destruction of the great source of the eggs themselves, — the large producing adults. This fundamental error of destroying the adult lobster was first clearly pointed out in 1902 by Dr. George W. Field,* chairman of the Commissioners on Fisheries and Game in Massachusetts, and who in various reports since has ably advocated a sounder policy, based both on science and common sense, as will appear later in this paper. Our lobster fishery laws, which date in the main from 1873, are in principle like those which prevail elsewhere, and taken as a whole they illustrate the force of example and tradition, which were established long before the biology of this animal was even approximately understood. The past literature of this crustacean bristles everywhere with, these false notions, which are more or less directly and mainly responsible for the enactment and main- tenance of the present laws and practices of this fishery. The legal length limits of 9 and 1014 inches, which sanction the destruction of the big egg-producers, but for these supporting causes, would probably never have been retained, for these causes have led to a diversion of energy in various directions, such as the enactment of closed seasons and the practice of hatching and immediate liberation of the fry. A closed season for any animal, during which it is made illegal to hunt or fish for it, can only be completely justified and placed upon a scientific basis when it is made to correspond to the breeding sea- son of the species as a whole, and when this season is limited to a relatively small part of the year. Neither of these things is possible in the lobster, since the question is complicated by the fact that this animal spawns but once in two years, so that not more than one-half of the adult females reproduce annually, and these eggs when laid are carried about by the lobsters through nearly an entire year. Closed seasons of this character are there- fore not to be recommended, since they serve merely to restrict the total amount of fishing done in the year, and do not touch the root of the difficulty. The reasoning which has led to the establishment of the gauge 1 Field, George W.: ‘‘A Report upon the Scientific Basis of the Lobster Industry, the Apparent Causes of its Decline, and Suggestions for improving the Lobster Laws.” Re- port of the Commissioners on Fisheries and Game of Massachusetts for 1901. Boston: 1902. Also, ‘ The Biological Basis of Legislation governing the Lobster Industry.” Science, N. S., vol. xv. New York, 1902. ‘The Lobster Fisheries and the Causes of their Decline,” Fortieth Annual Report of the Commissioners on Fisheries and Game of Massachusetts. Boston, 1906. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 49 limit has been somewhat as follows: lobsters come to breeding age when 9, 10 or 101 inches long, and when they spawn they spawn many thousands at a time, which is true. Therefore, by placing the legal gauge at 9 or 1014 inches we allow this animal to breed at least once before it is sacrificed, which is also true in the main. Ten-inch lobsters lay on an average 10,000 eggs; the lobster, being a good mother to her unhatched progeny, and the best incubator known, will bring most of these eggs to term, and will emit to the sea her young by the tens of thousands. What more is needed to maintain this fishery? The answer is, Vastly more. This race needs eggs not by the tens of thousands merely, but by the tens of billions, and it must have them or perish. Moreover, it can get them only or mainly through the big producers, the destruc- tion of which the present gauge laws have legalized. If the lobster is a good “ incubator,” the sea is a very poor nursery. We have put a false value upon the egg. Before proceeding farther in this analysis, we must glance at the most pertinent facts in the biology of the lobster. These facts concern chiefly: (a) the period of maturity of adult lobsters; (0) the number of eggs borne by the females, or the size of the broods; (c) the frequency of spawning; (/) the treatment which these eggs receive, or the habits of spawning lobsters; (¢) the habits of the fry or larve; and (f) possibly more important than all else, the death rate or the law of survival in the young. The phrases “egg lobster,’ “berried lobster,’ or “lobster in berry,” or “lobster with external eggs,” are all synonymous, and always mean a female with her cargo of eggs, new or old, attached to the swimming feet under the tail. (a) Lobsters do not mature at a uniform age or size, but females produce their first broods when from 7 to 11 inches long, approxi- mately, the difference between these limits representing a period of from two to three years (age of female lobsters at these limits about three and eight years, according to Hadley). Very rarely are eggs laid before the 8-inch stage is reached, and the majority are mature at 10 or 1014 inches, when some have reared more than one brood. Accordingly, by merely reducing the 1014-inch gauge to 9 or 8 inches we rob the animal of the very meagre pro- tection which it now enjoys. (b) The number of eggs produced increases with surprising rapidity in proportion to the cube of the length or the total volume of the body, from the very beginning of sexual maturity. The: ap- proximate number of eggs at 8 inches is 5,000; at 10 inches, 10,000 ; 50 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. at 12 inches, 20,000; at 14 inches, 40,000; at 16 inches, nearly 60,000; and at 18 inches, nearly 80,000. In the case of 532 1014- inch berried lobsters taken from the waters of this State, the smallest, average and largest number of eggs borne were 5,000, 13,000 and 36,000. The smallest number probably represents a first brood, so that the average berried lobster at this size is prob- ably carrying eggs for the second time. The maximum of produc- tion is reached at the 15 to 16 inch stage when some individuals produce nearly 100,000 eggs at one time. The average 1014-inch berried lobster is from five to seven years old; and assuming that it has borne eggs once before, it has lived to produce 23,000 eggs. On the other hand, an egg-bearer 16 inches in length which according to Hadley’s estimate is nearly eighteen years old, has had a succession of eight broods and has produced 210,000 eggs. The larger animal is thus worth nine times as much as the smaller; in other words, in the course of twelve years its value to the fishery has been increased 800 per cent. Again, it should be noted that it is the class of small adults up to, but not including the 9 or 1014-inch animals, those which produce by the fives or tens of thousands, upon which we have relied to maintain the race, while it is the class of big animals which produce the fifty and the hundred thousands which has been nearly wiped out. It may be added here that the male lobster matures as early as the female, and possibly earlier; and that the female may be impregnated at any time, and by more than one male. The sperm is received into a peculiar pouch or seminal receptacle on the under side of the body of the female, between the third pair of walking legs. The sperm has great vitality, and will endure in this condition for months and possibly for years. (c) There is a definite spawning period for the majority of adults, ranging on this coast from July 15 to August 15, and averaging two weeks later in northern Maine. A relatively small per cent. lay their eggs in fall and winter. (d) It is a fact, though frequently denied, that the lobster lays her eggs, as already stated, but once in two years (though rare exceptions to this rule may be looked for), and not annually, as was formerly supposed. This was first proved by the anatomy and growth of the reproductive organs,’ and was confirmed by 1 Herrick, Francis H.: ‘‘ The American Lobster; a Study of its Habits and Develop- ment,” Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission for 1895, pp. 70, 246 (description Fig. 138). Washington, 1895. Also, ‘‘ The Reproductive Period in the Lobster,” Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission for 1901, pp. 161-166. Washington, 1902, CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. bl the statistics of the fisheries and by experiments conducted on a large scale by Appeléf* at the fisheries station at Stavanger, Nor- way, in 1899. (e) The eggs are not deposited on sand or trusted to the mercy of the sea, but are carried attached to the under side of the tail, and admirably guarded by parental instinct for nearly a year, or until they are hatched ten or eleven months later. It may be also added that lobsters move from deeper water towards the shores in spring, and return to deeper water in fall. The laying of the new eggs and hatching of the old, followed by a molt or casting off of the shell, takes place, as a rule, in warming, but not necessarily in very shallow, water. There is no general coastwise migration, nor do all execute the same movements to and from the shore. Ignorance of the fact that there is a definite spawning period, that the eggs are laid but once in two years, and that they are subsequently carried for ten months, to hatch in June or July following the summer when laid, is responsible, in considerable measure, for erroneous ideas regarding the efficacy of closed sea- sons, laws protecting the berried lobster, and other matters of legislation, the effects of which have not yet worn away. (f) The fry or young, when hatched, rise to the surface or towards it, and lead a free-swimming life for three weeks, hardly larger than a mosquito (being a little over one-third of an inch long), and infinitely more harmless, translucent, brilliant in reds and blues, and quite helpless in the presence of all but the minute animals upon which they prey. They perish by the thousands quickly before the storm and the countless fish and other enemies which they meet in their varied movements, and which do not disdain small fry. At the third molt, or the fourth, counting that passed at the time of hatching, with what seems like a sudden leap and bound, they are transformed into the fourth or the lobsterling stage, which really looks like a little lobster. The six pairs of flexible oars at the sides of the body have been cast off, and permanent swimming feet have appeared under the tail. There is a new armor or shell, resplendent in reds, greens and browns, and a brand new equipment of instincts and other powers. For the first time it knows fear, and in either this or in the fifth stage which follows it goes to the bottom, hides under stones, burrows in the sand and shows an ability to protect itself. The most critical period of 1 Appeléf, A.: ‘ Mittheilungen aus der Lebensweise des Hummers.” Mittheil. des Deutschen Seefischerei-Vereins. Bd. 15,s.99. Berlin, 1899. 02 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. infancy being now past, one lobster at this stage is worth many thousands in the first. Therefore, our efforts, to be of real avail, should not end with the hatching and immediate liberation of the fry; we should rear them to the bottom-seeking stage. (g) What is the death rate or the rate of survival in the lob- ster? Upon the answer to this question hinges the gauge or legal length law, as well as the expensive practice of hatching and turn- ing loose the young, which has been pursued in this country and Canada for many years (since 1886 in the United States and since 1891 in Canada). As was pointed out ten years ago, too many fish culturists have been content to turn out so many thousands or millions of eggs of lobsters and fish, and confidently expect results, to the neglect of the most important question of the whole business, — the rate of survival in the young set free, or the number of adults which can be raised from them, the very end for which all the time, trouble and money have been expended. In the popular mind, an egg is an egg, like that of the fowl which we eat for breakfast. An egg really represents opportunity or chance to survive, and its biological value to the race depends upon the law or rate of survival, which was definitely fixed in nature before the advent of man with his traps and hatching jars, and differs in every species of animal and plant known. When the gauntlet of life is long and hazardous, especially in infancy, nature, as in the present case, multiplies the chances or multiplies the eggs. Many eggs always means death, under natural conditions, to all but a remnant of the host. The number of eggs alone serves as a rough gauge to determine the rate of survival. At one end of the scale stand the birds and mammals, with few eggs and the highest life rate known, secured by guarding and parental instincts, with big yolks and rapid development in one case and the special conditions of fetal life in the other. At the other extreme we find a parasite like the tapeworm, where the conditions of early life are so unpromising — since it must run a long hazard of chances, and be eaten by two distinct vertebrates — that its eggs are required by the hundreds of millions or even billions. The lobster needs more eggs than the trout, and of smaller size, but far less than the edible blue crab, which some- times carries five millions of eggs attached to its body. Each one of these is smaller than the dot over the letter « of ordinary print, 1 Herrick, Francis H.: ‘' Protection of the Lobster Fishery,’’ Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission for 1897, p. 221. Washington, 1898. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 53. and it must pass a long and dangerous larval period before reach- ing maturity. What, then, is the life rate or rate of survival in the lobster? Probably not more than 2 in 30,000, and certainly not more than 2 in 10,000. This number would be exactly known, provided we knew the proportion of the sexes or the proportion of the total number of males to the total number of females, and the average number of eggs laid by mature females during their entire life. Since the sexes are about equal numerically, it is only necessary,, to maintain the species at an equilibrium, for each pair of adults or for each adult female to leave two children which attain adult age, whatever the actual length of life in either generation. If the adult progeny exceeds two, the race will increase; if less than two, it will diminish. Since under present conditions the race of this animal is falling off, the actual rate of survival for the individual having remained the same, the total number of survivals only has. changed. In other words, there is at present a deficiency of eggs. What is the average number of eggs for the entire life of this animal? We know the minimal and maximal limits of egg pro- duction in individuals (roughly, 3,000 and 100,000) ; we know the average number of eggs borne at the average age of maturity (at the 10-inch size, 10,000 eggs); but, as Allen,’ in discussing this question, points out, we do not know the number of female lobsters destroyed at different ages. Many after laying their first eggs are killed before any young are allowed to hatch, and the number which survive to produce successive broods is a constantly dimin- ishing one; but this is made good in part by the rapid increase in the number of eggs. The average number of eggs borne by all the berried lobsters captured should give us an indication of the average number of eggs borne by all female lobsters during life, — the number sought. In 4,645 egg lobsters from the Woods Hole region, Massachusetts, the average number of eggs was 32,000, which would correspond to a 13 or 1314-inch lobster which had produced three or more broods. Allen found the number of eggs borne by 96,098 lob- sters caught in Newfoundland to be 2,247,908,000, which would give an average of 23,000 to each female. This number corre- sponds to an animal 12 or 1214 inches long, which, as he remarks, from the known average age at which female lobsters mature (10-1014 inches), would be carrying at least a second brood. 1 Allen, E. J.: ‘The Reproduction of the Lobster,” Journal Marine Biological Associa- tion, Vol. iv. (N.8.). Plymouth, 1895-97. 54 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. Such a lobster must therefore have produced 13,000 eggs (the average product at 10% inches) plus 23,000, or at least 36,000 in all. We are therefore right in concluding that the maximum rate of survival of 2 in 10,000, formerly given,’ was much too high, as it was known to be at the time, and that the proportion of 2 to 30,000 is much nearer the truth. Another estimate, by Meek,* based upon the statistics of the fisheries of Northumberland, Eng., gives a life rate of 1 in 38,000. If it is then true, as we are thoroughly convinced that it is, that the normal rate of survival in the lobster is not greater than 2 in 30,000 or 1 in 15,000 (and it cannot be greater than 2 in 10,000), the fact is big for the lobster fishery, and the sooner it is faced the better. It has a direct bearing upon our laws and fishery operations. It enables us to truly evaluate the egg and the egg lobster. It shows in a conclusive manner that the present gauge laws are indefensible, because they rob the fishery of the billions of eggs necessary to maintain it. It further shows that the method of hatching the eggs of this animal and immediately liberat- ing its young is ineffective, because of the meagre results which can come from it. On the other hand, it speaks loudly in favor of a law to protect the large egg producers, and of the newer plan of rearing the young to the bottom-seeking stage, as the only means by which pisciculture can hope to materially aid this fishery. The importance of the law of survival to the operations of the fisheries, and especially in its bearing upon some of our present illogical laws, is the only excuse for dwelling upon it at this length. To illustrate further, — with respect to period of maturity and value to the fishery, all lobsters in the sea may be divided into three classes: (1) the young and adolescents, mainly from egg or larva, to the 8-inch stage; (2) intermediate class of adolescents and adults, 8 or 9 to 101% inches in length; and (3) large adults, mainly above 1014 inches long. The biological value of the individual increases with every stage from egg to adult of largest size, and therefore is greatest in class 3. The present laws sanction the destruction of class 3, but class 1, the beginning of the series, must, as we have seen, be mainly recruited from this class, or from those animals which under present conditions are being wiped out. In other words, our policy shifts the duty of maintaining the race upon the small producers, which the law of survival plainly tells us it is unable to bear. There is no way of getting over this grave defect. 1 Meek, A.: ‘The Crab and Lobster Fisheries of Northumberland.’’ Report for 1904. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1904. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 59 We speak of the “living chain” from egg to adult, but the metaphor is not a happy one. There is no “chain” relation in living nature, only a succession of individuals, of individual eggs, united in origin but discrete in each generation. The embryol- ogist begins with the egg, but the fish culturist with the egg producer. Spare the egg producer, then, and nature will save the race. We cannot wholly take the place of nature in dealing with the eggs, but we can defeat the ends of nature by killing the “bird” which lays them. But, do you say, “ We have the egg lobster law, and the pro- tection of lobsters in spawn should remedy our difficulties” ? In reply, we have but to recall the fact that adults lay their eggs but once in two years, and consequently we should not expect to find more than one-half of this class with spawn attached to the body at any given time. This at once reduces the protection aimed at in the egg lobster law by one-half. The other half shrinks to small proportions when we consider that there is an overlap of four weeks in July between the climax of the periods of hatching and spawning, when the majority of all adult female lobsters are without eggs of any kind, and also when we further consider the ease with which a fisherman by a few strokes of the hand can . make a berried lobster eggless. When analyzed in the light of the law of survival, the showing of the lobster hatcheries is not very encouraging. The hatching and immediate liberation of the fry has been practised for many years in Europe, where experiments were made in Norway as early as 1873, as well as in Canada and the United States. The whole number of fry hatched and liberated on the Atlantic coast for a period of ten years, according to official returns from the hatcheries of the United States, Canada and Newfoundland, reached a grand total of 4,214,778,200. Applying the law of sur- vival, with life rate of 2 in 30,000, which has been shown to be a fair allowance, this number of young would yield only 280,985, while there must have been captured on this coast in the same period nearly 1,000,000,000 lobsters. By applying the maximum rate of 2 in 10,000, which we are assured is far too large, the yield would be 842,955. To have held the fishery at an equilibrium by this means, there should have been hatched 5,000,000,000,000 young, or 1,250 times as many as were actually liberated. To take another example, the total output of all the Canadian lobster hatcheries, for the entire history of this fishery, 1880 to 1906, was as follows: — 56 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. Bay View, N. 8., 1891-1906, ; ; 1,889,300,000 Canso, N. S., 1905-1906, ; 79,000,000 Shemogue, N. B., 1903-1906, 291,000,000: Shippegan, N. B., 1904-1906, 220,000,000 Charlottetown and Dunk R., P. E. I., 1880-1906, . 256,085,000 2,735,385,000 Again, allowing the maximum rate of 1 in 5,000, this product of the activity of twenty-four years? would yield only 547,077 lobsters, or but little over the two-hundredth part of the numbers caught in certain years in Canada alone. Such illustrations should make us pause to consider whether we have rightly evaluated the egg and the young in this animal. They show the hopelessness of restoring or of even maintaining this fishery by such a method when conducted on any possible scale. In cases of this kind it is as detrimental to overestimate the value of the egg as to undervalue it. The eggs are true gold, although the amount which each weighs is infinitesimal. Like drops of water and grains of sand, these eggs count for but little singly, but in mass the inanimate particles can make the oceans and the continents, while the living germs can fill them with teem- - ing inhabitants. We cannot work on the colossal scale of nature in dealing with egg or larva, but we may frustrate nature by destroying the egg producers. Nature long ago provided for the cod, the shark and hundreds of other predaceous fishes; she took into account the tides, the storm and the rock-ribbed coast also, by giving to this race billions of eggs each year; but no provision was made for millions of traps working night and day at the bottom of the sea to destroy the producers of these eggs. The method of rearing the young through their critical larval or pelagic period, until they finally go to the bottom in the fourth or fifth stages, promises to materially aid this fishery. Some efforts were made in this direction by MM. Guillon and Coste? at Concarneau, France, as early as 1865, when the necessity of rear- ing the little lobster through its dangerous period of infancy was as clearly understood as now; but, though heralded with enthusiastic reports, little real advance seems to have been made. In the years 1873 to 1875 experiments in the hatching and 1 No hatchery operations apparently having been conducted in the years 1888 to 1890, inclusive. ; 2 Moequin-Tandon, O., and Soubeiran, J. L.. ‘* Etablissements du Pisciculture de Con- carneau et de Port-de-Bonc.” Bull. dela Soc. d’Acclimatation, 2d. Sér.T. II. Paris, 1865. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 57 rearing of lobsters were again undertaken by several gentlemen at Stavanger, Norway,' both independently and with the aid of the Royal Society for furthering the Industries of Norway. Ac- cording to the reports of Professors Rasch and G. O. Sars, they were eminently successful; many young lobsters were carried to the ambulatory or bottom-seeking stage, the necessity of which was duly emphasized, and incidentally important facts on the natural history of the lobster were brought to light. Again, what- ever progress was made at the time, the work was not systematically continued. In 1883 Saville Kent? contributed a paper on “The Artificial Culture of Lobsters,’ which later appeared in the proceedings of the International Fisheries Exhibition at London for that year. He contended that the chief cause of the decline in the lobster fisheries was the destruction of the lobster eggs, and that it should be combated by artificial propagation. As a result of experiments, he strongly advised paying a bounty for the egg lobster, hatching the eggs and rearing the young to the ambulatory stage before liberation. Still later, in 1885, Captain Dannevig® also succeeded in hatch- ing the eggs of the lobster and in rearing the young through the first three earliest stages, at Flodevig, Norway. He did not con- sider it of much service to hatch the eggs and to immediately set free the young; and he rightly said that, so great was the destruc- tion in nature from storms and other causes, out of the 25,000 or 30,000 eggs which a lobster might produce, not a single one might reach its full development.’ This work gave the first impetus to lobster culture in this coun- try, where the hatching of eggs was accomplished in the summer of the same year (1885) at the newly opened laboratory of the United States Fish Commission, at Woods Hole, Mass., as re- ported by Mr. Rathbun.* In 1894 we urged the importance of finding a means of rearing the young through the free-swimming stages, and thereby reducing the terrible death rate which inevitably occurs under natural con- ditions. As we then remarked: “If we could save 100 instead of 1 Rathbun, Richard (reported by): ‘‘ The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States,” sect. v., Vol. II., pt. xxi., pp. 736-738. Washington, 1887. 2 Kent, W. Saville: ‘On the Artificial Culture of Lobsters,” International Fisheries Ex- hibition, London, 1883, pp. 1-24. London, 1883. 3 Raveret-Wattel: ‘ L’Aquiculture Marine en Norvége,"” Revue Se, Nat. Appliquées, T. 37. Paris, 1890. . : 4 Rathbun, Richard: ‘‘ Notes on Lobster Culture,”” Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission, Vol. VI., p. 18. Washington, 1886. 58 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 2 out of every 10,000 hatched, every million young would pro- duce 10,000 adults, and every billion would yield 10,000,000 lob- sters, capable of reproduction.”’* While results somewhat similar to those outlined above have been obtained in England and in other parts of Europe, signal success in providing the young with a proper food supply and in maintaining them in a healthy condition up to the lobsterling stage has only been obtained in recent years in this country through the admirable work of Messrs. Bumpus* and Mead® and their associates. These experiments were begun under the auspices of the United States Fish Commission, at Wood’s Hole, Mass., in 1890, and were continued at other points on the coast, and especially at Wickford, R. I., where, under the direction of Pro- fessor Mead and of the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries of Rhode Island, the most efficient apparatus yet devised for the culture of lobsters has been gradually perfected and installed. Given a water supply which has been found by experiment to offer favorable conditions for the growth of lobster larve, and a suitable food supply, such as minced clams, the apparatus mechan- ically aerates the water, and at the same time holds both the lob- sters and their food in suspension in the water with little detriment to the larva themselves. Some experiments have been lately con- ducted by the United States Bureau of Fisheries at Boothbay Harbor, Me. At an early stage in his work Professor Mead found that in no case was the number of lobsters reared to the fourth stage less than 16 per cent. of the total number of fry placed in the brood chambers (scrim bags, or wooden boxes, as now in use). The ratio of survival may even exceed 50 per cent. In 1901, between 9,000 and 10,000 lobsterlings were thus reared at the Wickford station to the bottom-seeking stage; in 1908, between 300,000 and 400,000 fourth or fifth stage lobsters were reared and dis- tributed on the coast. The rate of survival of the larve up to the ambulatory stage is not known, but it is certainly not greater than 1 in several thousand, or a small fraction of 1 per cent. Instead of striving to work on the vast scale of nature in deal- ing with the egg, this is an attempt to improve upon nature by 1 Herrick, Francis H.: ‘‘ The Habits and Development of the Lobster, and their Bearing upon its Artificial Propagation.” Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission for 1893, p. 86. Washington, 1894. 2 Bumpus, H. C.: “The Results attending the Experiments in Lobster Culture made by the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries.” Science, N. S., vol. 14, pp. 1013- 1015. New York, 1901. — : 3 Mead, A. D.: ‘* Experiments in Lobster Culture.” Thirty-fourth Annual Report of the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries of Rhode Island for 1904. Providence, 1904. (See also later papers published in reports of the same commission for 1901 to 1903.) CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 59 lowering the death rate in the most critical period. Great care, however, is needed at every stage of the process, and especially at the last, since the young do not seek the bottom at a uniform time. Had it been our attempt to destroy this animal, could we have acted more effectively than by destroying its great ege-producing class? When we attempt to rid this country of the English or house sparrow, will it help greatly to break its eggs and destroy its young ones, though so relatively few and with a far higher life rate than in the crustacean? Must we not eventually kill the producers of the eggs, if we would be rid of the pest? This is the nature of the treatment which the lobster has received. If we would preserve this fishery, we must reverse our laws, as Dr. Field has ably pointed out, and follow the principles and practice of breeders of domestic animals everywhere: use the smaller and better animals for food, and keep the older, and in this case by far the most valuable, for propagation. To apply the principles already discussed, I would make the following recommendations : — 1. Adopt a double gauge or length limit, placing in a perpetual close season or protected class all below and all above these limits. Place the legal bar so as to embrace the average period of sexual maturity, and thus to include what we have called the interme- diate class of adolescents, or smaller adults. These limits should be approximately 9 inches and 11 inches, inclusive, thus legalizing the destruction of lobsters from 9 to 11 inches long only when measured alive. In this way we protect the young as well as the larger adults, upon which we depend for a continuous supply of eggs. The precise terms of these limits are not so vital, pro- vided we preserve the principle of protecting the larger adults. 2. Protect the “berried” lobster on principle, and pay a bounty for it, as is now done, whether the law is evaded or not, and use its eggs for constructive work, or for experimental pur- poses with such work in view. 3. Abolish the present close season; let the fishing extend throughout the year. 4. Wherever possible, adopt the plan of rearing the young to the bottom-seeking stage before liberation, or co-operate with the United States Bureau of Fisheries or with sister States to this end. 5. License every lobster fisherman,’ and adopt a standard trap 1 This recommendation has been re-cast and made more explicit in regard to the adoption of a standard trap with entrance rings of specified diameter, in accordance with a suggestion made by Governor Guild; and the subject of licensing the fishermen, which is herein in- cluded, was suggested by a recommendation made at the conference by Mayor Herrick of Portsmouth, N. H. 60 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. or pot which shall work automatically, so far as possible, in favor of the double gauge, the entrance rings being of such a diameter as to exclude all lobsters above the gauge, and the slats of the trap of such a distance apart as to permit the under-sized animals to escape. Such dimensions should be determined by careful ex- periments, based upon those already made by Dr. Field. Many objections can be raised, but this plan is defensible on scientific grounds, while the older methods are not. The best thing which can be said of it is, that it would eventually give us more eggs, and in an ever-increasing quantity, — the greatest need of this fishery, both now and in the future. Under present condi- tions, the supply of eggs is yearly diminishing, and at a tremendous rate. ; The most striking objection to the proposed changes -would be that if class 3, that of the big producers, has been nearly’ exter- minated, and we proceed to wipe out class 2, the smaller adults, there will soon be no more lobsters; but this is not valid. No doubt if this change were made, the supply of smaller lobsters would be temporarily increased where the 1014-inch gauge law still pre- vails, as was the case in this State in 1907 when the 9-inch law went into effect; and this might be followed by a temporary stringency. No one can speak with positive assurance upon this subject, but the important point to bear in mind is, that under such an arrangement we would have a perpetually protected class constantly growing, and at work all the time. Again, it may be asked, Will enough lobsters survive to enter the exempt class? We believe that there would, and that the answer to this question is to be found in the records of catches for every locality where lobsters are now trapped. Even in places where the average size is small, larger lobsters occasionally appear, and in sizes showing more than one year’s growth. Why were not all such animals weeded out the previous year? Instead of waiting to be caught up in the end, these “escapes” would all enter the protected growing class, to enjoy a green old age of fifty years and possibly more; but we have no positive knowledge of the life span in this interesting race. The trouble of a double gauge, such expense as would be needed in adjusting traps to admit and hold lobsters of the legal size, would have to be met, and it would be well worth while. In our opinion, the markets would not be seriously disturbed. Protect the big egg producers, and nature will preserve the race. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 61 THE PRESERVATION AND PROPAGATION OF MOLLUSKS. By Dr. Georce W. Fieip, CHAIRMAN MASSACHUSETTS COMMISSION ON FisHERIES AND GAME. INTRODUCTION. True and permanent progress rests upon accurate knowledge of nature’s constructive and destructive methods. The real “ white man’s burden” is the acquisition and the rational application of such knowledge to enable man to become a co-worker with nature for the purpose of developing and accelerating nature’s methods. Rational practices originating in the human brain for the purpose of improving nature’s methods are already in efficient operation, and are bringing in their train not alone abounding wealth to individuals, States and gations, but also higher conceptions of civic duties and nobler types of character and manhood. Notable among such achievements of constructive assistance to nature are the discovery and intensive agricultural applications of nature’s methods of the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, thereby not alone increasing the yield of wheat, corn and other food stuffs, but checking general destructive and uneconomic agricultural practices. Another method is the assistance to nature by initiating and accel- erating natural variation and the artificial selection of such varia- tions as promise improvements along definite lines, as in plant and animal breeding. Still another is artificially averting the attacks of natural enemies, thereby reducing the normal déath rate of both mature and immature plants and animals, —a prin- ciple now generally applied in the case of domesticated plants and animals and in fish culture. It is our purpose to-day to call your attention to certain obstacles which in New England have thus far unfortunately prevented similar applications and results in that portion of our territory on the sea coast below high-water mark, — areas which are particu- larly adapted for growing clams, quahaugs and scallops under artificial cultivation. 62 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM. To-day in Massachusetts alone, of upwards of 67,000 acres of shellfish ground below high-water mark, only about 3,552 acres are even approximating the normal yield, i.¢., from $100 to $800 annual profit per acre; while upwards of 40,000 acres are pro- ducing less than 10 per cent. of the normal production, and about 15,000 acres at present unsuitable could at an expense of $50 to $300 per acre be made to yield from $100 to $500 profit annually. Under such development and utilization employment would be furnished to at least 20,000 skilled and unskilled laborers, as compared with 2,806 in 1907, and a total production valued in the hands of the producers at not less than $6,000,000 annually, in- stead of $687,000, as in 1907. The results from more than 300 experimental plots in Massa- chusetts prove conclusively that clams (Iya arenaria) and qua- haugs (Venus mercenaria) can by appropriate methods be as successfully cultivated as are oysters to-day, or as any farm crop; that the value of a quahaug crop upon arrival at a marketable size often exceeds $1,800 per acre; and that the annual profit should average not less than $200 per acre. Complete titles to the uplands have been acquired by individuals, and may be exclusively subject to individual control and respon- sibility. Similarly, State laws have been enacted by which areas below low-water mark may be leased for oyster cultivation, but the lease holder can claim as his property only the oysters grown thereon. Under certain conditions oyster growers are permitted to spread shells upon the tidal flats above low-water mark, for the purpose of catching oyster spat. Curiously enough, present laws permit the cultivation of oysters in the waters below low- tide mark, but not clams, quahaugs or scallops, either below or above low-water mark. It would be quite as logical for the State to permit the farmer to grow only corn. The fisheries (which include the mollusk fisheries) are still public, and subject to the disposing action of the Legislature. The Legislature should by appropriate laws make possible intensive cultivation of shellfish, e.g., clam, quahaug, scallop, mussel and lobster, in addition to the oyster, in the area below high-water mark, under proper safeguards devised to secure public and private rights. The financial return from these submerged areas is greater than from similar areas of farm land under intensive methods of cultivation, and requires a much smaller amount of working capital. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 63 The sole difficulty is the failure to recognize how completely conditions have changed in the past two hundred and fifty years, and that laws suitable then are no longer adequate to meet present conditions. It was found necessary to give up, more than two hundred and fifty years ago, the communal system of farming, in order to secure the necessary increased yield of food products per acre. Up to the present time, however, there has been no demand for similar action relative to the land below high-water mark, in order that the yield of human food products therefrom may be increased ; therefore, the old antiquated law still obtains in the older States on the Atlantic coast. The fishing rights are public, and are so defined in the Massachusetts Colonial law of 1641-47, which says that the riparian owner “shall have propriety to the low-water mark, where the sea doth not ebbe above a hundred rods, and not more wheresoever it ebbs further,” but subject to the provision that “every inhabitant who is a householder shall have free Fishing and Fowling in any great Ponds, Bayes, Coves and Rivers so far as the Sea Ebbes and Flows within the precincts of the Town where they dwell unless the Freemen of the same Town, or the General Court have otherwise appropriated them.” My thesis therefore is, that the present laws do not permit the proper development and utilization of the areas naturally adapted for growing annual crops of clams, oysters, quahaugs, scallops or other food or bait mollusks. I shall endeavor to show that this law has no longer a reason for existence, but has remained on the statute books from a lack of knowledge on the part of the public concerning existing conditions and present possibilities of devel- opment; that this law is a distressingly effective check upon productive enterprises, by placing an undue hardship upon the fishermen and shore dwellers; and that the public would be directly and enormously benefited if the same rights which have been long guaranteed to the farmers and owners of the upland, whereby the grain and other products of the land belong to the owner of the land, should be extended to the fishermen and riparian owners. If this is done, clams, quahaugs, scallops and other edible and bait mollusks, crabs, lobsters and fish, can be cultivated as securely as are corn, potatoes and fruit on the upland, or as are oysters in the sea. It is our purpose to call attention to present conditions and possibilities as a basis for more extended consideration and appropriate legislative action. State and nation cannot fail to benefit, if the New England States will but do for the fishermen what has been done for the farmer, by encouraging initiative, indi- 64 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNOBS. vidual responsibility, and guaranteeing property rights to the product of his labors. The fisherman should, by definite laws, have the right to increase by his own efforts, through cultivation, the yield per acre of the tidal flats, and should be encouraged to de- stroy such animals as act as checks upon economic production. Lire Huisrory. In order that the conditions may be understood and the possible developments be properly judged, it is necessary to give a brief outline of the life histories of the mollusk group, and then to indi- cate how certain facts in the life histories of each species make possible a vastly increased production of the edible mollusks. Fortunately for our present purposes, the general and important features in the early life histories of the clam, quahaug, scallop and oyster are so similar that a general description applies to all. Between the first of June and the first of September the eggs and sperm of all these species become mature, are discharged into the water, and are borne about to a considerable extent by the cur- rents. One large mollusk may produce many millions of eggs or sperm, but only a very few survive. An egg soon after being laid may chance to be fertilized by a sperm, which, swimming about in the water, meets and bores actively into the egg substance until the sperm nucleus fuses with the nucleus of the egg, after a series of extremely complicated but rather definitely known changes. Within a few minutes after fertilization the cell material begins to be divided into a number of similar but progressively smaller portions or cells. Soon these cells, at first similar, assume different and specific characteristics, ultimately becoming special portions or organs in the animal, e.g., stomach, intestine, skin, mantle, heart, gills, nerves, blood vessels, foot, reproductive glands, etc. About eight to twelve hours after fertilization the egg hatches. The larva bursts the egg shell, and, by means of actively moving hair-like projections of its superficial cells, swims to the surface of the sea. A primitive stomach is soon formed, and the free- swimming “ gastrula” begins to feed upon such microscopic plants as bacteria, small diatoms, etc. Within perhaps twenty-four hours the shell begins to form. It gradually increases in size, spreading over two sides of the body, which slowly flattens. Within the part covered by the shell, characteristic folds appear which ultimately form the gills. The part outside the shell retains its cilia (the vibratile hair-like projections) upon the surface cells, and becomes an organ of locomotion, the velum. Soon by the side of the velum CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 65 a ciliated external projection appears, a more or less permanent organ of locomotion, the foot. In the later development the foot comes to contain one or more loops of the intestine, the reproductive glands, one of the three “brains,” the so-called “ear,” muscles, nerves, and a gland comparable in some degree functionally to the spinning gland of the spider, since by means of this gland the young clam and scallop spin threads which fasten the animal tem- porarily to stones, sticks, seaweed or other sub-strata. The oyster, however, is fastened in permanent fashion by the shell, and does not voluntarily change position, as do the clams, quahaugs and scallops. All these animals by growth add successive layers to the margins of the shell, so that the concentric lines of growth may indicate in general the rate of growth and the age of the individual mollusk. The rate of growth is largely conditioned by the quantity of food available, by the period of submergence during which feed- ing is possible, by the currents, the temperature of the water, and doubtless to some extent by individual personal equation. According to these factors, the rates of growth vary enormously under various conditions, and even in rare instances attained 1,800 per cent. increase in volume in one year. But the usual gains are from 200 to 800 per cent. for the first year, each succeeding year being approximately one-half of the gain the previous year, under identical conditions. Molluscan old age approaches after five to eight years, though under unusual circumstances oysters and quahaugs appear to have survived fifteen or eighteen winters. The scallop, however, is a notable exception. Our observations in- dicate that the scallop breeds when one year old, and less than twenty-five per cent. of the individuals survive in nature to reach the second spawning period. Thus we see that, since the scallop is naturally a decadent species, singularly exposed to dangers from enemies and inclement weather, and since each individual during its life produces but a single litter of eggs, the destruction by man of any considerable quantity of scallops previous to this spawning period can mean nothing less than commercial exter- mination, possibly followed by ultimate and absolute extinction of the species. The young clam or scallop may remain attached to its sub- stratum by threads for several days or even weeks. But ultimately the clams drop off and burrow into the sand or sandy mud; while the scallop drops upon the sea bottom, over which it compasses spasmodic and indefinite locomotion by violently clapping its shells. Innumerable millions of young mollusks of microscopic 66 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. size are smothered by falling into mud and slimy substances. Still more countless millions are eaten by elders of their own kind, by young fishes and by tube-dwelling worms. Notwithstanding the utterly incomprehensible magnitude of such infant mortality, the “set” of oysters or clams is frequently so abundant in favorable localities that a struggle for existence begins which does not ter- minate until the population of perhaps 2,000 to the square foot of surface is reduced to 10 or 20. It is at such a point that man can render efficient aid to nature, and by transplanting to unoccupied areas turn nature’s wasteful prodigality to economic gain. If taken at the most favorable time, say when the young clams are about 14 inch long, these may be rapidly and cheaply collected by means of shovels and sieves, and sown broadcast over suitable tidal flats, after the manner of sowing grass seed. The size of seed mollusks to be used and methods of planting must be determined for each special locality, and adapted to the physical conditions of current and consistency of the bottom. The number to be grown per square foot depends largely upon the quantity of food available. MANNER OF FEEDING. All the edible mollusks, from their anatomical structure, act as living filters, straining out and retaining as food great quantities of microscopic plants (diatoms, alge, bacteria) and minute frag- ments of organic débris, which occur floating in the water. Owing to the fact that rivers bring naturally to the ocean great quantities of soluble plant food washed from the land, the largest quantities of shellfish are found naturally in the great bays and estuaries along the coast, — Chesapeake Bay, Narragansett Bay, Mt. Hope Bay, Buzzards Bay, Boston harbor, the flats at the mouth of the Merri- mac River, etc. Errrcts or PoLLuTIon. It must be constantly borne in mind that these useful mollusks are found at the mouths of rivers, because they there find as their food in the brackish water the microscopic plants which in turn are nourished by the soluble nitrates washed from the soil of the uplands. Unfortunately, with increasing population of the land organic débris may enter the water in excessive quantities, and reach the mollusks too directly and without the preparation re- quired under natural conditions. Organic débris is changed into plant food by natural processes very rapidly on land, becoming CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 67 quickly inoffensive to sight and smell. Similar processes go on more slowly if the organic débris is continuously immersed in fresh water, and still more slowly if in salt water. In addition to the enormous loss of nitrogenous material which must be minimized if we are to maintain unimpaired the agricultural value of the land, the unscientific disposal of sewage, garbage and factory wastes not alone impairs esthetic conditions, but becomes an insid- ious menace to the public health through the mollusk fisheries. Further, the mechanical problems of removing this material from the beds of the waterways is already becoming prominent. Com- petent authorities scout the idea that Boston harbor is at present filling up to any considerable degree with sewage sludge, but the problem must be met in the not distant future. This sewage sludge and the manufactory wastes upon entering salt or brackish water precipitate much more rapidly than in fresh water or upon land, and becomes relatively insoluble, hence the accumulation in harbors, — Boston and New Bedford harbors and the estuaries of the Mer- rimac, Taunton and other rivers. This sludge, instead of under- going the normal rapid oxidation and nitrification, as it does when exposed to the air on land, undergoes in the sea water a series of changes, mainly putrefactive, which results in the production of chemical substances which in solution may (1) drive away the fish which in incredible quantities formerly resorted to that place; (2) impair the vitality and even kill whatever fish spawn or fry may be present; (3) check the growth of or completely destroy the microscopic plants and animals which serve as food for the young fish and shellfish ; (4) by developing areas of oily film floating upon the surface of the water, enormous numbers of the surface-swim- ming larve of clams, quahaugs, scallops, oysters, mussels and other marine animals may be destroyed annually. But most serious of all is the fact that all the edible mollusks, notably the clam, quahaug, oyster and mussel, act as living filters, whose function is to remove from the water the bacteria and other microscopic plants and animals. Most of these microscopic organ- isms are digested by the mollusk; but in instances where the mol- lusk is eaten raw or incompletely cooked, man is liable to infection, if the bacillus of typhoid fever or certain other disease chances to be present in the gills or stomach of the mollusk, or in the water contained between the shells. While the chance of such infection is exceedingly remote, it is nevertheless actually operative, though vastly exaggerated by irresponsible paragraphers. Some typhoid epidemics in this country and abroad have apparently been found 68 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. to be directly referable to shellfish from sewage-polluted waters. For these reasons, approximately 1,500 acres in Boston harbor, 700 acres in New Bedford harbor and 400 acres in Lynn harbor have become unsuitable for the growth of shellfish; and the State Board of Health, after investigation, decided that clams, oysters and quahaugs found within these areas are likely to be the direct cause of a dangerous epidemic of typhoid. For this reason, the taking of these shellfish for any purposes was very properly pro- hibited by act of the Legislature. In 1907, however, this act was amended so as to permit the taking of such clams and quahaugs for bait from these contaminated waters, upon securing permits from the local boards of health, and providing heavy penalties for both buying and selling. As a matter of fact, however, it is well- nigh impracticable to properly enforce this law, for the reason that it is only possible in very rare instances to keep any one lot of clams known to have been dug under these polluted conditions under surveillance from the time of digging until they are placed upon the hook as bait. Complete interdiction of the taking of such mollusks for any purpose whatever, so long as the polluted conditions exist, is the only method by which the public health can be properly safeguarded. Even though, in our opinion, the financial loss to the public from the destruction of this public fishery by the dumping of city sewage into the water is not less than $400,000 annually, the public health is of greater consequence, and should not be jeopardized, as is the fact under present condi- tions by use of quahaugs and clams from such polluted areas. It is a pleasure to state definitely that Massachusetts oysters, however, are grown under sanitary conditions. Until such time as the public realize that economic disposal of sewage must take place on land rather than in water, laws absolutely preventing any con- tact with the infected shellfish should be enforced without ex- ception. Such laws as we are urging to-day will do much to safeguard the public health, by stimulating and permitting per- sonal enterprise to profit by maintenance of completely sanitary conditions in the mollusk business, and the development of a trade in “certified clams, oysters and little necks” or quahaugs. ForMER NATURAL ABUNDANCE. Though the previous generation of men scouted the idea “ that any human device could materially lessen the abundance of animal life in the ocean,” in the case of non-migratory species the effects of human wastefulness are not even masked by the vastness of CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 69 ocean’s resources, and the present generation are beginning to realize the enormity of the numerous biologic blunders which have reduced to barren deserts large areas formerly enormously pro- ductive of oysters, clams, quahaugs, scallops and lobsters. Increas- ing population has levied constantly increasing demands upon these species for use as food, and as a direct result both the imma- ture and the breeding animals have been wastefully destroyed. The débris of civilization has immensely restricted the breeding grounds, both by preventing the natural establishment of new beds and by the progressive destruction of original and extensive old beds. No organized efforts were made to check the inroads of the natural enemies. In the older States of the Union relatively little or nothing has been done to restore even approximately the original conditions, let alone the improvements upon nature which would undoubtedly follow the application of artificial cultivation to these food mollusks. Some attention, however, has been given to oyster culture, for the reason that the natural oyster beds began to show unmistakable evidence of decline as early as 1770. Though increasingly restrictive legislation failed to meet the situation, not until 1869 was constructive legislation, based upon the correct principle of increasing the supply rather than checking the de- mand, passed by the General Court of Massachusetts, whereby the leasing of ground suitable for oyster culture was permitted. These laws, though now obviously inadequate to meet conditions, are in force to-day. But Massachusetts has been outstripped by more progressive legislation, which has made possible great economic strides in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Vir- ginia, Louisiana and all the Pacific States. Rhode Island, for ex- ample, receives a State revenue of approximately $100,000 for leases of formerly incompletely utilized public fishing rights. Other nations, notably France, Holland, Italy and Japan, are utilizing the tidal areas, and have successfully developed diverse and elab- orate schemes for beating nature at her own devices. The people of Massachusetts and other New England States are beginning to realize the possibilities of submarine farming, and demand that the antiquated laws, which have failed to check the destruction of the natural beds of clams, quahaugs and scallops, shall be so modified as to make artificial propagation possible to the fishermen and profitable to the public. Though in Italy it is even possible to turn the sea water into the crater of an extinct volcano, and by gates regulate the quality and quantity of the water for the purpose of growing oysters, we in Massachusetts would perhaps 70 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. incur the risk of losing our venture if we should remove the sod and mud from a salt marsh, so that the tide should ebb and flow. For under present laws the fisheries are public, “wherever the tide doth ebbe and flow.” The owner might drain and fill the marsh for constructing a cranberry bog, but the present laws are so obscure that no man dares to attempt to convert a similar and suitable marsh into an equally remunerative mollusk garden. DEPLETION OF SUPPLY. That there has been a rapidly progressive depletion in the supply ¢ 1s perhaps too obvious to require discussion. It is evidenced in the higher prices to consumers, in smaller daily wages to the fishermen, in areas of total or almost complete depletion which are annually becoming larger and more numerous. Such are especially prom- inent in Mt. Hope and Buzzards bays; Dennis, Chatham, Wellfleet and Nantucket; in Plymouth, Duxbury, Annisquam and Essex. It has become profitable to bring clams to the Boston market from places as remote as Prince Edward Island; meantime, our own unexcelled facilities are producing less than one-tenth of the average natural and possible yield. CAUSES OF PRESENT UNFAVORABLE CONDITION. The causes of the present unfavorable conditions are referable directly to our present laws, which encourage unsystematic and destructive digging, and fail to make possible artificial cultivation to a degree which will increase the supply sufficiently to meet the increased demand incidental to improved facilities for rapid dis- tribution of the fresh mollusks to markets even as distant as Denver; and resulting from the extensive advertising by summer visitors and the printing press; to the increasing requirements of the canning factory, whose scientifically prepared clam chowder, steamed clams and “clam juice” now make possible, in all parts of the world, a near-Rhode-Island clam bake satisfactory even to those who are to the manner born. Furthermore, the present Massachusetts shellfish laws, which delegate the mollusk fisheries to the control of the shore towns, have resulted in few cultural operations worthy of the name, for the reason that the security of tenure is not guaranteed. The lessees are too frequently at the mercy of petty town politics, and disastrously subject to local jealousies. There is complete lack of State or town protection against trespassers. Town by-laws CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 71 often result in enormous waste, on account of the local jealousies between towns. The present laws harbor and encourage a totally illogical and mistaken conception of the value of a closed season for mollusks, and of closing certain areas to permit the “clams to come back.” When there is a scarcity of potatoes or wheat, do the farmers demand a close season, or let the fields lie idle, and wait for an increased crop “to come back” ? No; they in- crease the yield by extended acreage and well-advised efforts to increase the yield per acre. The scarcity of shellfish can and must be met in exactly the same way. It is entirely logical and certain. Such a result will inevitably follow the enactment of suitable law. The present shellfish laws of Massachusetts, too antiquated to fit the changed conditions of two hundred and fifty years of progress, have become so obscure and contradictory, by annual amendments to meet local demands, that they are practically valueless, either in their restrictive or constructive features. The so-called “ free fisherman ” is now demanding an opportunity to be truly a free fisherman. He wants to be freed from the incubus of ignorance concerning nature’s fisheries laws; he demands freedom from the bankrupting tendencies of “close seasons,” which do not do the work expected; he is entitled to freedom from that type of com- petition which compels the unnecessary destruction of breeding animals and of the young which have not passed the period of most rapid growth; he is entitled to freedom from the petty jealousies of town politics; he is justified in demanding security of tenure amid the changes incidental to annual town and city elec- tions; he is entitled to freedom to cultivate his submarine garden, and to enjoy the benefits, financial and otherwise, equally with the farmer. And the fisherman is entitled to immediate consideration. For two hundred and fifty years he has been taught by false prophets; he has shaped his course by false lights. Beneficent laws have brought prosperity to the tillers of the soil, but the fisherman finds the struggle becoming continuously more difficult. He is constantly facing a decreasing yield and a decreasing daily wage. Adequate laws will open on equal terms to every deserving citizen abundant opportunities for developing submarine farming. There are at least four distinct classes within our Common- wealth, each of which either derive direct benefits from the mollusk fisheries of our coast, or are indirectly benefited by the products of the tidal flats: — 1. The general public,—the consumers, who ultimately pay the cost, who may either buy the joint product of the labor and 72 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. capital invested in taking and distributing the mollusks from either natural or artificial beds, or who may dig mollusks for food or bait purposes for their own or family use. 2. The fishermen, who, either as a permanent or temporary vocation, market the natural yield of the waters; or who, as in the case of the shellfisheries, may with little capital increase the natural yield and availability by cultivating an area of the tidal flats after the manner of a garden. 3. The riparian owners of the flats, who, however, are subject to the public rights of fishing, fowling and boating, and who under the present laws are often subjected to loss, annoyance or even positive discomfort, by inability to safeguard their proper rights to some degree of freedom from intruders, and from damage to those bathing or boating facilities which constitute a definite por- tion of the value of their shore property. 4. The capitalist, who seeks a productive investment for money or brains, or both. Under present laws, such are practically re- stricted to distribution of shellfish, except in the case of the oyster, where capital may be employed for production as well, — an obvious advantage both to capital, to the fishermen and to the public. All these classes would be directly benefited by just laws, which would encourage and safeguard all well-advised projects for arti- ficial cultivation of the tidal flats, and would deal justly and intelligently with the various coincident and conflicting rights of the fishermen, owners of shore property, bathers and seekers of pleasure, recreation or profit, boatmen, and all others who hold public and private rights and concessions. That any one class should claim exclusive “natural and valid tights,” over any other class, to the shellfish products of the shores, which the law states expressly are the property of “the people,” is as absurd as to claim that any class had exclusive natural rights to wild strawberries, raspberries, cranberries or other wild fruits, and that therefore the land upon which these grew should not be used for the purpose of increasing the yield of these fruits. This becomes the more absurd from the fact that the wild fruits pass to the owner of the title of the land, while the rights to take shell- fish are specifically exempted, and remain the property of the public. The class most benefited by improved laws would be the fisher- men, who would profit by better wages, through the increased quantity of mollusks which they could dig per hour; by a better market and by better prices, for the reason that the control of the CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 73 output would secure regularity of supply. Moreover, when the market was unfavorable the shellfish could be kept in the beds under optimum biologic conditions, with a reasonable certainty of finding them there when wanted, and with the added advantage of considerable volume by growth during the interval. Thus the diggers could be certain of securing a supply at almost any stage of the tide and in all but the most inclement weather, through a knowledge of “ where to dig; ” moreover, there would be a complete elimination of the reasoning which is now so prolific of ill feelings and so wasteful of the shellfish, viz., the incentive of “ getting there ahead of the other fellow.” All the State laws relative to mollusks should be revised, to secure a unity and clearness which should render graft, unfairness and avoidable economic loss impossible, and be replaced with a code of fair, intelligent and forceful laws, which would not only permit the advancement of the mollusk industry through the in- dividual efforts of the progressive fishermen, but also protect the rights of the general public. CoNCLUSION. In conclusion, then, suitable shellfish laws should be framed to meet the following fundamental conditions : — 1. Permit leasing of the fishing rights over at least one-half of the area below high-water mark, at a reasonable annual rental, to any naturalized citizen of the Commonwealth, and with adequate safeguards against predaceous and pernicious monopolization of these rights by individuals or corporations. 2. Tenure should be secure, and pass as real estate to heirs and assigns for balance of term of lease, so long as the area is properly utilized. 3. The State should guarantee protection equal to that accorded to farmers. The shellfish should equally be regarded as property. 4. Should declare certain animals and plants to be common nuisances, and compel the destruction of such animals and plants, under penalty, e.g., starfish, drill, sulphur sponge, et al. 5. Should make possible the collection and sale of mollusk spat under proper biologic and economic precautions. 6. Should definitely safeguard the public health, by requiring that all shellfish beds from which mollusks are marketed shou!d be inspected and certified as to their sanitary conditions. Such laws will largely remove the necessity of restrictive legisla- tion; check unsystematic digging, uneconomic destruction and mar- 74 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. keting ; increase the productive acreage and the yield per acre; check the inroads of enemies; increase opportunities for remunerative labor; vastly improve the sanitary conditions of the mollusk beds and of the marketed mollusks; and, finally, would restore public confidence by definitely and completely removing even the present exaggerated conceptions of the typhoid germ lurking in the oyster. Such laws could in the long run work no injury to present riparian owners, for the reason that these owners now have no ex- clusive rights in the fisheries, but would have equal opportunities to acquire such additional rights as they could properly utilize, and thereby secure themselves and their property against trespass or other undesirable conditions. The shore town would profit by increased taxable property and increased production of wealth within its territory. Both the inland and the seashore dweller would be able to secure oppor- tunities for farming under water as well as on land; while the general public, t.e., the State, would realize an income from an extremely valuable asset at present decadent and unproductive. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 75 SUGGESTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS BY THE DELEGATES. Hon. Watiace Hackett, Mayor or Porrsmoutn, N. H. I am requested to say a few words on the subject of lobsters, more especially because I live down in that portion of New Hamp- shire where they somewhat abound. The lobster industry in my town is of some little consequence, perhaps relatively small, but there are half a dozen jobbers who do a business of perhaps $50,000 a year for the largest one down to about half that amount. There are about 125 to 150 men engaged every day in the securing of lobsters. They go out in power boats, and in that way are enabled to reach ledges which are located farther away than the original range of the lobster boats enabled them to get. For instance, with the old-fashioned sail boats they could not go out to several ledges which are now quite productive, and the result is that there are more lobsters entering the market of Portsmouth to-day. The short-sighted jobbers think because of this that there is a greater supply in the ocean than there ever was, and that there is great money in the business, because the price is higher. Those are the conditions which prevail there. Lobsters are sent all over the country from my town to Portland, Ore., etc. Chicago is a large market for them. Of course there are two sides to this question: one is the side of the lobster, as we might say ; and the other is the side of these people who are engaged in the business, which amounts in the aggregate not alone in Portsmouth or in New England to many millions of dollars a year. I agree with the last speaker, that the way to increase that business is to increase the supply, and laws which are made to protect the lobster will protect the fisherman. 1 looked into the matter of the laws of the different States of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, with a view of showing the difference in existing laws in these States. I got some notes in regard to these laws, and I made some observations from them. I was unfortunate in not being able to secure information in regard to the Maine laws. The man I asked for this information is a lawyer, and also the keeper of a summer hotel on the Maine coast. The only suggestion I received from him was to the effect that it 76 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. might be well in legislation to make a little exception in relation to summer hotels on the Maine coast. I will show a few points of difference in the laws of these three States. For instance, as regards the gauge. The Maine law is from 9 to 1014 inches, but I understand these men have a method of measuring away out to the limit of the eyebrow of the lobster, so that a 9-inch lobster will measure 9 inches in New Hampshire and 1014 inches in Massachusetts. I understand it does not make any difference whether the lobster taken is 9 inches or 1014 inches; but the law should be the same in both States. There is a close season in Maine from August to November, and in Massa- chusetis from June to September. I learn from Professor Herrick that this matter also is not important. There is a spawning pro- hibition against taking spawny lobsters in Maine from April to August, in Massachusetts at all times, and in New Hampshire at no time. In New Hampshire the fish commission has a boat in our harbor, and they pay double the price for spawny lobsters that the others will bring, and therefore such lobsters are sent to them. There is a prohibition against canning or preserving lobsters in Maine, and none in New Hampshire or Massachusetts. There is a prohibition against non-residents taking lobsters in Massachusetts, and none in Maine or New Hampshire. That shows the variance. I do not know that I am exact regarding the Maine law, but I am regarding New Hampshire and Massachusetts. It shows a great variance, and we should get together. It occurred to me that these suggestions might be in order. We need uniform laws as to the length. There is no need for a Massa- chusetts man to come down to our territory and seize our 9-inch lobsters — which our men, being thoroughly honest, will not take — and bring them to Massachusetts, where they may be sold under legitimate circumstances. If anybody is to get the 9-inch lobsters, we want the New Hampshire fellow to get them. There should also be some uniformity as to the spawny lobster, and there should be uniform laws as to the taking of lobsters by non-residents. These suggestions perhaps are not very valuable, but they may possibly be useful. Here is another idea. How would it do to require a license for the right to take lobsters, just the same as for taking deer or bears or any other animal? The advantage of that is, that you would restrict the takers, — you would know whom to watch, — and by sufficient police protection you could see that the laws were not violated. The little revenue thus received should be turned over to the fish commission, for the purpose of advancing the CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 77 interests of that commission. In that way we should do away with a great deal of taking of lobsters by people who do not belong in our particular territory; and the summer tourist who wishes to take lobsters for a few weeks could not do so unless he secured a license. Better still, we would know whom to watch. Another idea is, that the suggestions made here should not be lost sight of; we want to put them into permanent form, in laws. Professor Herrick has told me more in a short hour about the lob- ster than I ever knew, and his ideas embody some very useful suggestions, which should be embodied into laws. I want to say one word for the hardy fishermen, who in the dampness, fog and rain, secure a living along our rocky coast. They are a worthy set of people. JI was impressed more particu- larly with this fact half a dozen years ago. One 4th of July I wanted a half bushel of lobsters to celebrate with, and I spoke to an old lobsterman. He said if I would come down at about 5 o’clock in the morning I could have what he got. I got up early, and it was a pretty raw, dismal day. I put a flask in my pocket filled with what is sometimes called “bait;” in this case it was whiskey. I felt almost like trying it myself, it was so cold and damp. When I got to the shore I saw the fisherman coming in, covered with his oilskins. He was cold and wet, and I pitied him. He was suffering, and I knew it. He stepped out into about two feet of water and pulled his boat up. I said to him, “ Nathan, I have brought you a little nip, — do you think you could be induced to try it?” A smile of reminiscence and of anticipation broke over his rugged countenance. He took the flask and gave me the silver stopper. He at once applied the flask to his anatomy. I have stood on the bridge at Niagara when the water came over the falls; I have stood on the banks of the Ammonusuc in a spring flood; but these two instances were not a circumstance to the instance which confronted me at this time. This gentleman was a conscientious and thorough man, and when he bails out a boat he bails it out dry. In due time he returned the flask, being an honest man. His comment was that “the stuff did not ketch holt as sharply as the kind he was in the habit of using generally.” Mr. James DonAHUE or RocKkLANnnD, ME., COMMISSIONER OF SEA AND SHORE FISHERIES. There are a few things that I wish to call to your attention, after the reading of these most excellent papers. The lobster fishing is a very important part of our business. To begin with, I wish to ask what we shall do to help this lobster industry? That is a 78 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. question which we have been asking the people of Maine and trying to solve for thirty years. I-will now state what has been done and what Maine is doing since thirty years ago. Why I refer back to thirty years ago is that at that time Maine had no lobster laws. It was legal to catch all the lobsters of any kind desired. About twenty years ago we began to realize that we were exterminating, so to speak, our lobsters. At that time the canning factories were running in the State, and the Legislature of the State thought it advisable to stop canning lobsters, thereby saving the small lobsters. We continued along for some ten years more without factories, but with the people and the fishermen still using and consuming in different ways the same small lobsters that the factories were deprived of the privilege of using. They went so far as to not only sell the small lobsters for a very meagre price, but to cook them and feed them to their hens. We did not there- fore really stop the decrease in our lobsters until less than ten years ago. About that time we adopted a law of 1014 inches, and we have been living up to that since. The 1014-inch law in our opinion is as small as the lobster should be used, for the reason that a lobster at 9 inches is so small that he is of very little value. In the ordinary lobster not more than one-fourth of a pound of meat can be taken from the shell. When that lobster sheds, which he does every year at that age, he will increase from a 9-inch lob- ster to a 1014-inch lobster, thereby being of a value at 9 inches of from 5 to 8 cents, as compared with a value of 15 to 20 cents at 101% inches, according to the season, etc. We think, as I said before, that that lobster if killed at this time is killed in the most vital period of his life, from a commercial standpoint, because any financier would say that if you can get 300 per cent. by waiting six months, which it is necessary to wait for the lobster to shed, it would be a pretty good investment to save that lobster for these six months. I will say, further, that with this law it was impossible for us, up to two years ago, to get very good results as to the preservation of small lobsters, because fishermen believed they had a right to sell anything they caught. By talking and reasoning we think we have got them to understand that by so doing they are working against their own interests. Instead of using legal suasion, we have tried moral suasion; and to-day more than half of our lobster fishermen believe the law to be right, and are living up to it and helping the commission to enforce the law. In that way we are getting better results; and to show you that we are doing all we CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 79 can, and what the result is, — which is the most important thing, —JI will say that the returns from the Maine lobster catch for the past three years, not including this year, has been as follows: in 1905 our catch was 11,137,947 pounds of lobster, at a value of $1,394,000; in 1906 we had an increase to 15,014,374 pounds, valued at $1,640,000; in 1907 we were still on the increase, and had 17,397,342 pounds, at a value of $1,888,000. This is the amount of money that the lobster fishermen pulled from the water in that year. We now think we are on the right road in Maine, because we are gaining. Previous to this we were going the other way. As to the seed lobster, I will say that we have a method there of buying the seed lobsters from fishermen. The reason they used to strip the seed from the lobster was that it was illegal to have a seed-bearing lobster in their possession, so in order not to have one they would make it seedless, and then it could go onto the market as an ordinary lobster. The State passed a law appropriat- ing $5,000 to buy these seed lobsters from the fishermen. The method we are adopting now is to pay the fishermen 25 per cent. more than the regular market price for legal lobsters for these seed lobsters, making it an inducement for them to save these seed Yobsters for the State. If they object to having these seed lobsters taken to the hatchery, and prefer to have them liberated, we will liberate them there in their harbor, with the privilege to them of catching them again, and we will buy them again if they catch “them. So you see we are getting ahead in this work. We have paid four times for one seed lobster in a season, but that is an ex- ception. We have paid for several three times, but we think that system is beneficial. We are selling to the United States hatch- eries in Boothbay harbor. Last year they hatched almost 140,000,- 000 small lobsters, and liberated them on the coast of Maine. The number of lobsters that matured is problematic. They have all kinds of enemies, especially in the swimming period on top of the water; but the fishermen report that they never saw so many small lobsters before on the coast of Maine. From Casco Bay east to Eastport our stock this year shows a material increase. In that section the small lobster is almost invariably liberated. From Casco Bay west, however, the catch is dropping off, and has been dropping off; and it will show a smaller catch this year than for the last ten years. 80 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. Mr. A. W. Mzap or Provipencsz, R. I., ComMissioNER on IN- LAND FISHERIES. I have the honor to represent one of the members of the Inland Fish Commission of Rhode Island, and am very glad to be here as a delegate from that State, which is distinct in two ways at least. It is the smallest State in the Union, and it is also a State whose agricultural lands are largely under the water. As a mat- ter of fact, we have a very considerable portion of our best farming land under the waters of Narragansett Bay. The proposition, therefore, of utilizing this part of the State is a serious one, and for a good many years the commissions (we have two of them) have been strenuously endeavoring to make the best use of this area. There are some things I wanted to bring up. I am a biologist, like my two friends on the platform, and every time we meet we have an amicable disagreement with regard to the best methods of preserving the lobster. I think every one in New England agrees that the lobster has been on the wane for a long time. The question is, Is it possible to maintain the lobster, as well as other shellfish? Then the question comes as to how it shall be done. In the first place, we must have proper legislation. I think legis- lation ought to be uniform, and for that reason I hope this con- ference will result in good work. It should be uniform throughout the States. The necessity for that uniformity has been illustrated, to you. Simplicity of legislation is a great point, but we must have legislation which can be enforced. I think Dr. Field and Professor Herrick hit that point on the head first rate, although I do not agree with them in certain respects. The lobster laws must be enforced. I think also that regulation of propagation can be added to present legislation and the enforcement of the laws, and I am very much impressed with the possibility of a cam- paign of education. I believe what Mr. Myrick said yesterday about the possibility of educating the next generation for their own good. I think Maine has done a very great work in having edu- cated the fishermen to protect their own interests. It is well-nigh impossible to enforce fishery laws against the will of the fishermen. If you can get the fishermen to want these laws enforced and to help enforce them, there is no question but what they can be en- forced. It must needs be that offences will come in some cases; but if the fishermen have the enforcement of the law, “woe to him by whom the offence cometh.” CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 81 The method of legislation at present has been outlived. We have begun on the principle that we should preserve the young lobsters. I think the method which Dr. Field and Professor Her- rick have so ably presented is at any rate a very plausible, a very attractive, and I may say a very seductive theory, from my point of view. It is true that the lobster egg we must have. It is true also that in forestry we must have the seeds of the pine tree to grow other pine trees. It is equally true, as Professor Herrick has shown in his paper, that we have a great many more lobster eggs than we need. There are 10,000 more lobster eggs than we need, providing we could take care of those eggs; and the ques- tion in my mind simmers down to a more or less academic one of whether the increase cannot be best brought about by taking care of these eggs. If it takes 30,000 eggs to give you one mature lobster, is it not possible to get that mature lobster by taking care of a few of these other eggs which are in other circumstances going to the wall? This, however, is a personal view. I do not wish to commit the other members of our commission to it, but I want to express it; for, while it is perhaps an ungrateful task to dissent from gentlemen who are your friends and for whom you have the greatest respect, yet I feel that in a conference of this kind we should be very frank in exchange of opinions. I think there is an economic fallacy in that way of legislating. We sometimes lose sight of the fact that in saving these egg- producing lobsters we are saving them at a cost of young lobsters which have gone through all these vicissitudes of fortune and have come up to the 9-inch length. Moreover, we have as a problem in lobster culture not only the producing of lobsters, but the pro- ducing of lobsters for the market. If you limit the lobsters going into the market to 9 to 11 inches, you must furnish more lobsters of that length than all lobsters furnished before of all lengths, because it takes more 9-inch lobsters to make a pound. I think as a biologist, too, I would like to differ from my esteemed contemporaries on the platform. I feel that nature herself has shown over and over again that she works sometimes in one way and sometimes in another way. We find the clam producing up- wards of a million of eggs. The clam is very prolific. The way that nature preserves the species is by throwing out a large number of eggs, and running the chance that some will get through all right. It is the same way with the lobster, to a less extent. But here in our own waters is the dogfish, which in these parts has been quite a menace. The dogfish produces not 20,000 eggs, as the 82 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. lobster does, but only about 8 to 10 young in a year. What is the result? Is the dogfish a thousand times less numerous than the lobster? No; it is increasing constantly and is extremely numer- ous. It is said that the most numerous bird in the world is a petrel, which lays only one egg, but takes care of it. I feel that there is a good deal to be said on the other side, then. I would like, if time permitted, to speak of the clam, the scallop and the oyster, for Rhode Island is proud of its shellfish industry, which is one of the very best in the world. I believe in uniformity of laws. In regard to length, I wish the length could be raised to 104 inches; but it is a great deal easier to sit in the State House and talk about raising the limit of length of lobsters than it is to be a lobsterman, and see your next year’s profits go to the wall because of a change in the length. I understand that in Maine there has been a movement to measure not the whole length of the lobster, but just the thorax. I could not find out whether that was true or not, but it seems to me that, it is a good suggestion. You can pull a 9-inch lobster to any requi- site length, but you cannot pull out the shell. Mr. DonaHuE (answering). I will say, in regard to measuring, that the Maine measure is 434 inches from the end of the horn or nose to the center of the back end of the shell. We had trouble in regard to the pulling out of lobsters, so we adopted this new measurement, and now stretching or pulling is out of the question. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 83 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRD SESSION. NOVEMBER 24, 1908, 2 P.M. THE CONSTRUCTION OF HIGHWAYS. By Haroitp Parker, C.E., Cuarrman Massacuusetrs Hicuway Commission. The subject which has been assigned to me is one which I believe to be of the greatest economic importance, and, although a subject the details of which cannot be entertaining except to road- builders themselves, yet, to you who are endeavoring to bring about conditions in the administration of public interests which shall affect the whole of New England, it must appear that the question of highways and their construction is vital. I assume that, in discussing the question of road construction, I shall be at liberty to take into account the general question of the development and economics of the improved road in its relation to modern life and necessities. It is wholly unnecessary to point out that means of transporta- tion may mean the success or failure of any community. It has been said by many men, in treating of this subject, that the meas- ure of the civilization of any country is determined by the condition. of its means of transportation. As an evidence of civilization, I do not agree wholly with this conclusion; but as an evidence of prosperity and development, the condition of the roads of any community is certainly of the greatest significance. Economics. In considering the economic features of highways, I shall only bring to your attention the fact that from the earliest times the growth of the highway has,-in some degree, kept pace with the 84 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. development of the country. It has not always been a uniform growth, and, as needs for improved lines of communication have developed, such lines have made at times more advanced steps toward perfection than at others. This may be shown briefly by the fact that in the United States, where vast areas of territory were taken up by pioneers, the roads connecting settlements one with another were neglected because the more immediate neces- sities appeared to absorb all the attention of the people. It was found, in the progress of time, that the means of communication must be improved, or that the settlers would be left behind in the race; and so a century ago we find the United States government taking up the problem of building great thoroughfares for im- proved lines of communication between the east and the west, the remains of which are now plainly to be traced through Maryland, West Virginia and Ohio, connecting the Mississippi River with the Atlantic Ocean. It was soon found that the building of these great thoroughfares by the central government was not feasible; their continuation was abandoned, and the roads reverted to the States in which they were located. Various attempts at different times, more or less abortive, were made by the State governments and by the communities to evolve systems of highways, none of which were ever rounded out into a whole. We have found the toll-road system tried and abandoned. Then the canal and river navigation was developed, in order to bring the producing districts into communication with the mar- kets; but no active steps were taken toward securing successful means of transportation until the introduction of the steam engine. Since that time the United States have devoted their energies, so far as intercommunication is concerned, to the building up and development of the railroad systems, until to-day more than half of all the railroads in the world are within the limits of the United States, and their carrying capacity and the rapidity at which they operate are among the most extraordinary accomplishments of our day. Col. F. V. Greene truly said, a decade or more ago: — The United States have the longest and best roads in the world, but they are in the form of railroads; and the construction of these rail- roads has absorbed so much energy and capital that there has not until now been time to construct good common roads, nor has the necessity for them been evident. After the practical completion of, the railroad systems of the United States, the intelligence of the people directed their energies CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 85 toward perfecting a system of highway communication between the farmers, the manufacturers and the railroads. The question of building roads amply strong and with sufficiently smooth surfaces to permit the traffic to pass over them with the greatest economy is now presented to the people of the United States and to us in New England for solution. In other words, How shall the money raised by taxation be spent in order to secure an equivalent in product, so far as the highways are concerned ? In Europe, during the period that has elapsed between the days of the Roman conquests and the present time, the history of roads has been varied and more or less erratic; for when the Romans took possession by conquest of far-distant provinces, it was one of their first endeavors to connect them all with the capital by means of thoroughly well-built highways. The remnants of these Roman roads are plainly visible to this day, and in some instances are still in use, although it is possible that no American would care to ride over them. It was found in all parts of Europe, since the days of the Romans, where one country waged war upon another, that improved ways must be furnished by the government over which armies and their impedimenta could be quickly transported. This was done with more or less thoroughness up to the time when Napoleon made his famous roads over the Alps, and since that time France has kept the lead in its construction and main- tenance of systems of highways throughout its territory. England, up to within a hundred years, was so deplorably defi- cient in good roads that travellers were practically cut off from prosecuting their journeys during the bad season. I have already mentioned the relative growth and development of ‘ highways and railroads. I may add that their relations to each other develop some interesting facts. Before the days of railroads the only means of communication was by road or by water. Then the road was in the nature of a great thoroughfare, which gave access from the outlying districts to the great cities or markets. Waterways were used as supple- mentary to the roads in transporting these products to the ocean for transference into ships or to the great centers for consumption, and also by travellers when in the pursuit of business or pleasure. In other words, one was supplementary to the other, and in pro- portion to the excellence of its means of communication a com- munity thrived or failed. The building of railroads took away wholly the significance of roads for long-distance travel. When railroad communication was established throughout the country, the purpose of the highway, 86 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. aside from its purely local uses, was to bring the products of the field or the mill to the nearest point on the railroad. No matter how poor the road was, because of the short hauls and by the use of additional horses, at a seemingly small cost, the roads could be traversed. So they were neglected and allowed to deteriorate, and their relative value to the community was lost sight of. Now it is plain that of all these different factors in modern life each fills its important place, and the evolution of modern civilization has gradually brought them to their true relation to each other. The feeling that better methods shall be used in building and maintaining roads has become universal throughout the whole of this country, because the people themselves, having adjusted the relative values of different conditions of transporta- tion, have determined that the highway, as the first step in the movement of all things, shall not only be as perfect in its construc- tion as its importance merits, but that the money of the people shall be expended wisely and intelligently. The Office of Public Roads of the United States Department of Agriculture in a recent bulletin states that there are approxi- mately 2,151,570 miles of public roads in the United States; that of these 7 per cent. only are improved, leaving 93 per cent. of them in bad condition. The investigation of that office shows further that the average cost of moving a ton of heavy material is about 25 cents; that on stone roads in good condition the cost of moving a ton is 8 cents; on ordinary stone roads, 12 cents; on earth roads, rutted and in the condition of the ordinary country road, in the bad season, 29 cents; on wet, sandy roads, 33 cents; and on dry, sandy roads, 64 cents. The same office asserts that a reduction per ton of from 25 to 12 cents would mean an annual ” saving in the United States of over $250,000,000. It is needless to say that such a consummation can never be reached in this country; but it is well to consider how serious a matter the transportation problem is, and what savings in cost can be made by even slight improvements in the roads, and to remember that in the end the consumer always has to pay the tax. The Office of Public Roads has also collected some statistical information concerning the relation of roads to the development of the people. They classify, for purposes of illustration, the States of Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi and North Carolina as having “bad roads,” and the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and Rhode Island as having “ good roads;” and the following table is interesting : — CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 87 Per Cent. of Total Total Number | Per Cent. TAT ES. Population. | of Illiterates. | of Iliterates. es, Arkansas, . Missouri, . Z 5 ¢ Mississippi, 7,863,309 | 374,788 4.76 1.51 North Carolina, Massachusetts, . Connecticut, New Jersey, ; 6,025,991 20,577 0.34 30.55 Rhode Island, . The foregoing table shows, to a very marked degree, that in those communities where illiteracy is prevalent the roads are in very poor condition, and that the percentage of improved roads is vastly greater where the population is of a higher grade. This is not in itself wholly conclusive, because in the parts of the country referred to, where the people are ignorant, it is generally due to local and physical conditions, and the need for “ good roads ” there is naturally very much less than in other parts of the country. Massachusetts was one of the first States in the Union to awaken to the need for better roads, and in the year 1894 the be- ginning of a great system of State highways was inaugurated here. Under legislative appropriations, varying in amount from year to year, some $7,000,000 has been expended in this work; and the State has now nearly 800 miles of smooth, hard roads, with easy gradients, to show for its expenditure. In addition to the State highways so built, the Commonwealth has spent about $350,000 for improving some 160 miles of road in small towns, many of which are distant from the main lines of travel, and which, be- cause of their location, were not likely to be soon constructed as State highways. The money for this work has been raised by the issuance of State bonds, and ultimately the counties in which the roads are located will pay back to the Commonwealth 25 per cent. of the money so expended. Each of the States of New England has upon its statute books some legislation providing for the improvement of its roads under the direction of the State itself, and in each State substantial progress has been made in that direction, although naturally the 88 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. methods employed in the different States vary to suit the different conditions there existing. Most of the New England States provide for the maintenance of the State roads after they are built; but Massachusetts perhaps has the most comprehensive method for taking care of this ex- tremely important feature of highway work. Here the State, by contract or by day labor, looks after all necessary repairs and primarily pays all of the.maintenance costs. The municipalities are assessed each year up to but not exceeding $50 per mile per year, and the amount of these assessments gets back each year into the State treasury. Up to the year 1907 the cost per mile per year for maintenance of the Massachusetts State highways was not far from $100, and the money, for the most part, was raised by direct taxation, and not by the issuance of bonds. Some EssENTIAL FEATURES OF RoAD CONSTRUCTION. It is hardly my place in this paper to describe technically the construction of a road under any conditions, for such is more the part of a teacher than of one treating of a question which should be, perhaps, more general in its consideration; and I propose simply to give you the roadmaker’s view of what are the methods of procedure under given conditions. I can think of no better way of introducing the subject than to describe the developments in road construction which have been made by the Highway Commission of Massachusetts. The State of Massachusetts, as already stated, was one of the first to consider seriously the question of building its roads under the authority and care of trained men. In 1893 the Legislature, feeling the need of a change from previous methods, outlined a plan by which a commission of three suitable men was appointed to take charge of and build certain lines of road throughout the State, the lines selected to be based upon the needs of the communities and the physical conditions. This commission has now been in existence for about fifteen years, and it has built in that time nearly 800 miles of thoroughly well-devised stone or gravel roads. It has taken charge of the improvement and rebuilding of several hun- dred miles of town highways, but which still remain town ways. Under this law the commission has authority to build any road which is petitioned for by the selectmen of towns or the mayor and aldermen of cities. No appeal can be made from its deter- mination as to what roads shall be constructed, nor can there be any interference with the methods employed by it. T ammeag 09 eee es ee ee ae . a ee eer as ee ammes O06 ae 6G aeeees ee upon Prowe | iN ART AT s Sean | 1 ARGY T TOWNSEND hops neubener pace) oe = AD HHBAT I CORALS bed \ TON 2 \ Warwick ROYAL ' * Qy a ae jis \ NT oe ne X ON Lae ae vegeres r Rlenony--- ways punwe | ING. “@ i) i 7 ! » Hawley | & */gTEMPLE~? \ TON ~E. fu anvano\uirtee- tit Slee <= TON 4 ee —.! /~=4 WINDSON TJ PLAIN= « FIELO . if ee ov ON? 7 PRINCETO AMPSOOTT MASSACHUSETTS *Uincount ’ se PS Aa ayts 3 - aren’ phe wattnal ‘ ne i] i peru , My si 4 I ORTHING-CA) TON \ \ \ SK washing 2 3 Fd ih = 3 ne ae 4 ‘ PA aS y 1 SHREWS~%, / 1 = ‘ety NORTH i vEST 4 ASPENCERY \ +! a ie \WORCESTER\ -. LeRIC = LEICES-, erp. + ' \ TER ae ’ \{OROOKFIELOL ’ ° . ‘ sf \ MILLIS Ng ‘ i —_ —— (west ESTFIELO! ning. FIELD vers TOLLAND! \ S \ i WM rew | \ GAANviLLe ft s AGAWAM \ SINGTON | MARLBORO * 5 min ‘soutn yc S \ ss: \ poe eo ee ce ee d's ee . ' Cc oO N FREETOWN MAP OF MASSACHUSETTS SHOWING Man aoe R Ss onset . Y y | ‘MASHPE! a, FALMOUTHS, YG 403038 . ESTPORTOARTMOUT! Q D STATE HIGHWAY , S a” { VANTUCKET LAID OUT & PETITIONED FOR » Ew Roads Petitloned for shown thus igs wo a ive) SOUND Roads Laid out shown thus a Town Roads Improved shown thus wi EDGAR TISBURY: TOWN Ww CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 89 It may therefore be assumed that after these years of experience and study the commission has devised a complete system of roads throughout the entire State, and has, from its knowledge of the adjoining States, fixed upon points where connections between them should be made. It may also be assumed that in this time, having had all conditions of soil and topography forced upon them, the commission has reached a fairly reliable method of construc- tion under all conditions. The State of Massachusetts is divided into five divisions, each in charge of a division engineer. His duty is to supervise the con- struction and maintenance of every State highway, including the bridges and culverts on the State highways within his division ; and he is held responsible for the carrying out of contracts and the well-being of his division. Upon the commission’s determining that any road should be taken as a State highway, a party of surveyors is sent into the field to make a careful survey of the road itself. The notes of this survey are worked up in the main office of the commission, and accurate plans, profiles and cross-sections are plotted from them. Upon the plan and profile thus made the engineer in charge of the office draws a tentative location and grade for the State highway. ‘The plan, profile and cross-sections are then sent to the division engineer, who is required to make a report upon the proposed location and grade of the road, and to give the location and size of culverts, all the necessary drains, the character of the soil on which the road is to be built, his recommendations as to the material at hand, and whether any part or the whole is to have a foundation either of stone or gravel, what the cross-section of the macadam is to be, and what kind of stone is to be used, whether local or trap. Upon the plans thus made, and the report of the engineer, a carefully made estimate of quantities and costs is pre- pared for the use of the commission, and upon this report and plan contracts and specifications are prepared and submitted to bidders. Ordinarily, the lowest bidder is accepted to do the work, although the commission does not hesitate to reject the bid of any contractor who is known to be incompetent or otherwise unfit. Under the contract and specifications the road is built, and every detail is watched by an inspector, under the division engineer. Neither the division engineer nor any other person, except the commission itself, can make any modification in a contract or specifications after the contract is awarded. ‘The same care is taken whether a town or city takes the contract or whether the 90 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. work is done by a private contractor. They are all required to come up to the same standard of excellence; and if any failure of a road occurs, it must be due presumably to faulty design rather than to execution. It is firmly the belief of this commission that in the construction of a road the traffic conditions should be given first consideration ; in other words, where it might be necessary to build the strongest kind of a trap rock macadam road in the neighborhood of popu- lous towns and manufacturing communities, it would be wholly unnecessary and unwise to use the same method of construction in the gravelly hills of the interior of the State or in reconstructing the sandy roads of Cape Cod. Distributed through all of New England suitable stone for macadam road purposes exists; the use to which any particular material is to be put must determine whether it is fit or otherwise. It is manifestly improper to use a soft limestone or sandstone, or even granite, where constant or heavy traffic prevails. The hard, close-grained trap that is found in Massachusetts, princi- pally along the Connecticut River and the Atlantic coast, is the only material that withstands the wear and tear of our most heavily used State roads; and this must be bound by some tenacious ma- terial on the surface, to prevent its disintegration on curves or exposed places under the swift-moving automobile. For the or- dinary country thoroughfare the softer stones that are found in the fields or local quarries are sufficient, and in places preferable to the harder stone; for under light traffic the softer stone is less liable to ravel, and the dust caused by attrition in a measure pro- tects the road itself. The commission in its design has determined that the question of foundation is subject wholly to the local conditions: that is to say, in a clay soil, or a soil that is composed of alluvium or sandy loam, a stone foundation is usually necessary; and that where the underneath soil is of gravel or coarse sand, no founda- tion whatever is necessary. It very often happens that a coarse gravel may well take the place of the stone in foundations. Tt has been found that the ordinary country road should have a hardened surface 15 feet wide, of either gravel or macadam, with a shoulder of 3 feet on each side, conforming to the cross- section of the hardened way, thus making a traversable road 21 feet wide. This marks the location of the gutters on either side, and the embankment, either in cut or fill beyond this, should not be at a steeper slope than 114 horizontal to 1 vertical. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 91 It has been found by long experience that, where it is possible to avoid it, a gradient of over 61% per cent. should not be permitted on a stone road. I can see no objection to a 614 per cent. gradient, where the cost of reducing it seems unwarrantable. It is un- necessary to say that a maximum of 5 per cent. is better, but in many parts of the country the cost would be too great. It has been determined that on an ordinary macadam road in the country the crown should be from 14 to 34 of an inch to the foot; for a greater camber than this carries the water off too fast, and compels vehicles to travel in the center of the roadway, thus wearing out the center more rapidly than any other part, and tending to rut it. A less crown will not permit of proper surface drainage, under ordinary circumstances. Whether a road is to be built of gravel or of stone, the provisions for the drainage of its sub-grade and the removal of surface water should be precisely the same. Where good gravel can be obtained at reasonable cost, and where the nature of the traffic is such that more durable or expensive material is unnecessary, it may be better to build a road of gravel than of broken stone. Ordinarily the cost of a gravel road is much less than that of a macadam road, and it is more agreeable to ride over. It has been found that the most economical method of building culverts in Massachusetts is by using reinforced concrete; or, where small pipe culverts are necessary, reinforced concrete ends are built. The reason for this is, that with the reinforced concrete very much thinner walls can be built, and the cost for transporta- tion and for materials is very much reduced. It has been found that for bridges reinforced concrete beams can be used economically and safely up to a span of from 30 to 40 feet, and that for over that length the span arch construction should be adopted. A bridge built of concrete, when properly constructed, with a concrete floor, offers the vast advantage of giving a permanent structure which requires no repair. It has been the practice of this commission to use much care in the roadside work, both in removing unsightly earth, stone and other obstructions, and objectionable trees or brush, and in thinning out and cutting the native growth, so as to produce a roadside growth which is not only ornamental but advantageous. It is recognized that a certain amount of shade on any road is bene- ficial to the road and also agreeable to the senses. For this reason the commission has established a nursery for the growth and propagation of many kinds of trees which are later transplanted 92 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. to the roadsides. It has been found that all young trees taken from their home are much benefited by transplanting into con- genial surroundings before they are finally placed. For this reason the nursery of which I have spoken has been equipped with all things needed to supply the best conditions of soil, water and care. The roadsides, I believe, should be a matter for thought and attention by those in authority. This particular feature in for- eign roads, so often spoken of by travellers, is manifestly important, or it would not be commented upon so generally and approved so unanimously. It is my belief that, notwithstanding the destructive effect of high-speed motor vehicles, the macadam road, as now built, will be continued, with modifications which different road builders adopt under different conditions, such as the use of only stones of the largest size usually used in macadam work, commonly called No. 1 stone, with a sand binder, filling the voids completely during the process of rolling, where traffic is heavy; and the use of bitu- minous materials in the upper stratum of the roadway surfacing to act as a binder to hold the stones in place. Tur Errect or HIGH-SPEED AUTOMOBILES ON THE HIGHWAYS. Since the advent of automobiles, and particularly those capable of being operated at high speeds, it has become evident that $100 - a mile a year is wholly inadequate for the maintenance of macadam roads, even if they be only of the width of the Massachusetts State highways; and that in order to keep such stone roads in perfectly good condition at least $300 a mile a year should be provided. In Europe, where the cost of labor is not over one-half what it is here, and where the length of a working day is greater, it is estimated that on an average $300 a mile is necessary to keep the roads in the excellent condition in which they now are; although a great deal of the work which is done there, in cutting grass, cleaning gutters and in that sort of elaborate care which is used on all the governmental roads abroad, would be an unwarrantable expense here. Figures in the possession of the Massachusetts Highway Com- mission show that about 53 per cent. of the destruction of State highways is due to automobiles. In seven counties near London, Eng., the percentage of increased cost of maintenance due to auto- mobiles has been recently reported to be from 22 to 7% per cent., and this condition is probably more or less the same throughout England. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 93 It may be, and indeed it seems now almost certain, that a ma- terial will be found, if it has not already been found, which when placed upon the surface or embodied in the top course of a macadam road will offer a surfacing which will not be destroyed by the abrading action of automobile wheels. It may be proper to say here that this commission has experimented for several years in the use of tar, pitch, asphalt and oil in surfacing and even build- ing roads; but it is not yet prepared to say what material, if any, of those already experimented with, will become the material for general use. That the automobile has introduced a wholly new condition is undoubtedly true. It is also undoubtedly true that it has not caused a revolution of the theory of the macadam road, except only so far as the wearing surface is concerned. UNIFORMITY IN DESIGN AND CONTROL. I was forcibly impressed, in traversing recently both France and England, to observe that they not only had State roads, as we call them, covering great numbers of miles, but that they had hundreds of miles of nearly equally good roads built under the control of the counties, which show not only excellence in location and construction, but a most admirable system of maintenance. A large part of the deserved reputation for its good roads that France has to-day is due to the fact that for more than a century its roads have been under uniform and intelligent authority. It should be understood also that in the country districts of both England and France a soft limestone is used for building roads. This stone is easily obtained and easily broken up, and placed directly upon the surface of the soil; and, although steam rollers are used, ordinary traffic will soon wear this comparatively soft stone down to a smooth surface. It presents a uniformly white or nearly white smooth surface, which is most agreeable to ride over; and the lime in the stone, when more or less powdered up, forms a cement which, where traffic is light, will well stand the wear and tear. I mention this because, to the ordinary layman, it seems that he travels for long distances in both these countries over perfectly smooth white roads, with beautiful roadsides and lines of magnificent trees on both sides, and he thinks how much better they do it there than in our country. To the trained road builder it is very evident that this result is attained by the proper use of the materials at hand, carried on from year to year, and that the roads have not required in their 94 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. construction the more scientific methods that we are obliged to use here. I venture to say that a road built as any of these roads that I refer to, here in Massachusetts, would not withstand the heavy frosts and rains, with the vastly greater loads, for a single year. But it is in their maintenance that the roads in England and France excel ours. There it is not permitted that any uninstructed person shall have anything to do with them. The men in charge are trained from their youth up, and the result of such a system is apparent; and it is a most impressive example to us in this country, where the abominable practice exists of having in charge of our roads — I mean the country roads throughout New England —men who have no more knowledge of the subject than the ordi- nary farmer or mechanic might be supposed to have. There is no profession or trade that requires more experience and more intelligence than the building and care of highways, or where an incompetent or negligent person may more easily and more effectively waste money. I have been often amazed that the people of New England, who have the reputation of being intelligent and of spending their money judiciously, should permit a system to exist which practically wastes the largest part of the money spent in building and maintaining their highways. It is safe to say that in the country districts of Massachusetts alone a half million dollars a year is spent in the care of their roads by the towns themselves. It is safe to say that at least one-half of this amount is worse than wasted. How much wiser it would be if this same amount of money were expended intelli- gently; for in the majority of towns in this State fairly good road material can be obtained, where now it is neglected, and where used put on improperly. A better system would make not only passable but good roads, even without greater expenditure of money; and what is true in Massachusetts is true to a greater or less extent in all of the other New England States. CoNnCLUSION. It can no longer be said that the necessity for better roads is not recognized, or that their economic value is not appreciated. This is felt and understood especially in New England; and al- though it does not appear that in the different New England States uniform laws can be enacted, yet uniform methods of construction and maintenance, in accord with the best practice under given conditions, may well be employed. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 95 I have dwelt at some length upon the necessity for a cen- tralized control, organized by law in each State, and directed by trained and skilled men, intelligent and experienced, wholly inde- pendent of political influence, and continued in office during good behavior. In this way a force of trained and competent men would be developed and maintained, which would be of the utmost value to the whole of New England; and this, it appears to me, is the most important suggestion which I can offer at this conference. 96 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNOBS. TRUNK LINES OF HIGHWAYS FOR NEW ENGLAND. By James H. MacDonatp, Statz Highway Commissioner, CoNNECTICUT. 4 Now that the two great national events of our country have taken place, — the election of our President and the annual foot- ball game between Yale and Harvard, —I think we may very well settle down and commence to talk about the every-day things of life. It has always been a marked epoch in the history of our country when New England has sat down in counsel together. And I know of no better way to accomplish that which makes for prog- ress than just such a meeting as we have here to-day. Brother Parker has covered the entire subject of road building very completely. I think I have never heard the subject discussed so intelligently, and yet so completely covered in so short a period of time, as did Brother Parker in his very able paper to-day. This meeting has a suggestiveness to me. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The beginning of the day is with us here in New England, and its close is away over at the Pacific. It seems to me there is a leading in this great meeting to-day, and that it means very much more than is apparent at first thought. The most important question, in my judgment, before the people of this country is education. That has been taken care of. No better system of education than is to be found here in New England exists anywhere under God’s sun. The next great question, in my opinion, is highway improvement. It is a natural sequence. High- way improvement always follows education. Here in New Eng- land this is a very momentous question. We cannot give it too careful thought. The 2,151,000 miles of road in this country have had too little done with them,—only 108,000 miles of gravel roads, 38,000 miles of macadam and 6,000 miles of road constructed of other material. In this great country, of over 80,000,000 people, it is not a proud record. Too long have we neglected to take up this great question. I am happy to say, and proud of the fact, however, MONTREAL &) EASTPORT BANGOR | QRURLINGTON Z ST. JOHNSBURY ‘ \f /ROCKLAND PORTLAND | MAP IN OF NEW ENGLAND STATES Py lonromouns SHOWING TRUNK LINE HIGHWAYS CHESTER PROPOSED AND IN PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTION NOVEMBER 1908 CAPE ANN COMPILED BY JAMES H. MAC DONALD BOSTON STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSIONER. OF CONNECTICUT. POUGHKEEPSIE WEST POINT @ CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 97 that New England stands in the forefront of this great movement. East of the Mississippi River, 153,000 miles of the entire system of improved highways of the country are to be found (and the majority of the improved highways of the country lie in this section), yet only 7 per cent. of the roads of the United States have been improved. Here in New England we have in the six States 88,000 miles of roads, and these 88,000 miles of road have heen placed, practically, for direction and education of the people in the hands of only twelve men. The number of miles improved on this system is only 17 per cent. A great question is to be solved. The most important question to be considered, in my judgment, is to try to bring about uniform laws, in so far as a comparison of methods employed is concerned. Hence the value of that splendid paper read here to-day by Commissioner Parker. Tf that address and the outline so intelligently presented of what is proper to do in highway construction is taken away and dissemi- nated throughout New England, it will work wonders. The question arises, with the different conditions by which each State is surrounded, if it is possible to adopt uniform laws, at least just at present, in regard to either the details necessary to bring about the solution of this question, or the conduct of the work in its wider latitude. Much has been done, not only here in New England, but also throughout the country, to take up this proposition of bringing the people nearer together. It has taken seventy-eight years to grow our great railroad sys- tems throughout the country, from 23 miles in 1830 to 228,000 miles at the present day. That may seem a vast mileage, but when we come to analyze those figures we find there are only 614 miles of railroad to every 100 square miles of area. It does not begin to take care of the interests of this great people; nor do 2,151,000 miles of road, over which has come that which has helped to grow this great country to the position it now occupies, take care of our interests. The telephone, which has grown to be such a necessity and is such a dispatcher of business and such a comfort to have, brings us nearer together. The rural free delivery system that we have, growing in twelve years from 83 to 43,000 routes, with a small appropriation, eleven years ago, increased to $32,000,000, brings us nearer together. And yet all these valuable assistants to inter- communication are only Jeadings along the lines of that which makes for progress in bringing our people together. Here in New England we have a population of over 6,000,000 98 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. people; but let us analyze the figures, or apportion them by States, and what do we find? In Rhode Island, the population is 407 to the square mile; in Massachusetts, 348 to the square mile; in Connecticut, 187 to the square mile; in New Hampshire, 45 to the square mile; in Vermont, 35 to the square mile; and in Maine, 28 to the square mile. This does not suggest that we are liable to rub elbows or jostle one another. Great lines of communication should be made between our peo- ple. Every capital in this country should be connected up by a splendid highway, thus making a union of interests. I know of no man who, from a thorough knowledge of the subject, can dis- cuss this great question in its minute details intelligently. Indeed, it was only this year, when I had an opportunity to use an auto- mobile in my work in the State of Connecticut, that I myself be- came familiarly acquainted with the fourteen trunk lines which I have been planning for years to run through my State. In order that I might put myself in close touch with this prop- osition, I communicated with the commissioners of Massachusetts and the other New England States, immediately after Your Ex- cellency had so kindly invited me to be present, and asked them to send me details of the trunk lines they are operating upon. From the replies received I outlined a trunk line system on a map and had it blue-printed, together with some other information gained for the use of this conference. I found that the thought and purpose of the commissioners who have this great work of highway reform placed in their hands had been intelligently di- rected, and a plan carefully thought out to comprehend a splendid system of connected trunk lines throughout New England. Here in Massachusetts every important business center has been taken care of. Careful attention has been paid not only to that which makes for the comfort and convenience of the people of Massachusetts, but a system has also been intelligently planned to meet the co-operation of the other commissioners in charge of the work in States surrounding Massachusetts. To give you a little idea of what it means to plan a trunk line system intelligently, allow me to give you an illustration of my own State. I have a plan of trunk lines, numbering from one to fourteen. The principal trunk line commences at Portchester, N. Y., and follows the shore line all the way through Connecticut to Westerly, R. I. My longest trunk line is 120 miles. I use that as the basis of operations, following up all of the principal water courses in the State, then crossing the State with several other CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 99 trunk lines. Now, there are fourteen of these trunk lines so planned that they aggregate only 1,032 miles in actual length (the total in the State is 15,000 miles), and yet they drain a population of 851,000 out of a total of over 900,000 inhabitants. This sys- tem of trunk lines passes through or takes care of the interests of 132 out of a total of 168 towns. In my judgment, a well- planned-out system of trunk lines should not only comprehend the entrance into other States, but should have as its first thought that which will take care of the business interests of each State, — and that should be very carefully thought out. First, the business of a State over its roads; second, the pleasure seeker’s interests. The introduction of the automobile on the highways has caused the commissioners of the several States many sleepless nights and anxious moments, as we have seen it wend its persistent and anni- hilating way over the roads; and we have wondered, yea, we have groaned in the spirit many times, and said, “ How long, O Lord, how long!” But in watching the havoc that has been wrought on our trunk lines I have reached this conclusion, — automobiles are not to be held responsible for all the wear on our roads. It is hardly fair to expect any road built by mortal man to stand up to the traffic it is called upon to bear, and last forever. It is no reflection on any commissioner in this country that the miles of intertown roads, that have been built of as fine construction as it is possible for man to devise, should disintegrate and go to pieces with travel; nor should the commissioners be criticised because they so do, by reason of the fact that many of these roads have not been receiving any care at all from the towns in which they have been constructed. There are many miles of road that never re- ceive a drop of moisture — that which is so necessary for the con- tinuance of a splendidly built macadam road — except what God has sent. I venture to say we are building as fine a construction of roads in this country as can be found in the world; and the system of repairs we have in this country to-day, as organized by the commissioners, is as good as any that has been inaugurated by any people having charge of roads. We have vied with one another in ridicule of the hoe-handle brigade, with the cider jug accompaniment, system of repairs; but what would we think in America if we were to see men who were taking care of our highways sitting down with a few stones between their feet, cracking them with a hammer? What would we say here in America to such a system? And yet that is the common practice or method employed across the water. 100 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. A friend of mine brought over from France five or six samples of the stone they were using on their roads. There is not a com- missioner in the United States who would put any of those stones on any system he was planning for,— not one, and every com- missioner in charge of macadam work in New England is discard- ing similar stone in his work as unfit for our climate or the travel of the country. As has been said so very well by Governor Guild, we shall have to have a system of splendidly built main highways, permanent in their construction. Just such meetings as this, where we sit down together and discuss the matter, is what will bring this about. It will not be done in a moment, and it will not be enough to come to this meeting and sit here and listen to the discussion of this question, unless, as a result of these delib- erations, we go back to our several homes and do all that within us lies to bring about the solution of this great question. Every State in New England has a local pride in itself. We ought to have such pride, and one of the things we congratulate ourselves on is that we are singularly God’s chosen people in our several States. We have our own way of doing business, and we do not take kindly to interference. This is as it should be. I do not think much of a man who is not proud of his State, and it is this pride that will solve this problem, and give us a connected system of trunk lines. I spoke in Montpelier, the other night, to the legislative com- mittee of the Senate and the House. There was an effort being made by Commissioner Gates to increase his appropriation (the maximum amount paid to any town being $300) to $500, and to increase the annual appropriation from $50,000 to $75,000, — an increase of $25,000. Why, Brother Parker will tell you it will cost about that to build 3 miles of macadam construction on a road of ordinary conditions. Each State must be a law unto itself; but the outcome of a definite plan, such as we have in our thought to-day, of doing something, whether it is little or much, upon some particular trunk line system, will help develop that plan; and the way to get a splendid system of trunk lines through New England is to go out, as Brother Bachelder has done in his State, and preach high- way reform in season and out of season, and get the people to see the importance of organizing under some definite plan, and putting away for all time the caption of “ Republican ” or “ Democratic ” on the ticket, and substitute therefor the words, “A business ad- ministration in the construction of our highways.” CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 101 I think I have never met a man, woman or child in my State who was not a firm believer in good roads, and who desires to have a betterment of the highway conditions. But the obstacle that has confronted my people, and confronts many of the States in New England, is, how to get the money to make these improvements. My State has taken this matter up, and we have gone into these little towns having a small grant list, appreciating the fact of their financial poverty, and are now paying, on the part of the State, seven-eighths of the cost of construction of all highways that are taken into the possession of the State as “ State aid roads.” I firmly believe, as I look over the situation here in New England to-day, that, if we are to have a system of trunk lines through New England, and one that we can see and use to-day, and not put off into the far dim and distant future, it is for the State, in its pride and its desire to increase in population and wealth, to pay out of its treasury the money necessary to build these trunk lines throughout the length and breadth of New England, and then we shall have them; otherwise, the day will be deferred an indeter- minate length of time, in my judgment. God has wonderfully blessed New England in her men, in her history, in nature’s best handiwork, and made of it the garden spot of the country, where we have that to offer which is not pre- sented by any other part of the country; a great people, noted for their refinement, noted for educational advantages, noted for commercial privileges; situated on the seaboard, where the waters that wash the shores of New England ebb and flow and touch the shores of every country on the civilized globe; a great commercial center, with great mountains lifting their mighty heads to God, and where God’s magic finger has painted on the hillsides, the valleys and plains of dear old New England pictures more beautiful that any that emanate from the brush of the master artist, for in the one instance it fades from the canvas and is lost to memory, while in the other it endures throughout all time. 102 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. AUTOMOBILES AND THEIR REGULATION. By Hon. Nanum J. BAcHELDER, Ex-GovERNoR oF New HampPsHIRE. It is peculiarly appropriate that this conference of New Eng- land Governors, called to consider matters of legislation affecting all these States, should discuss the kindred questions of the con- struction and maintenance of State highways, and the regulation of automobiles. The territory within the six States includes what may be properly termed “the recreation ground of America,” as it is the section of the country that will more and more become the summer residence of hundred of thousands of the people of our great cities. I need hardly refer to the manifold attractions which combine to make these States in their several ways the most desirable summer resort on the continent. From the hill farms and water-side villages at the western end of Long Island Sound, to the mountains of New Hampshire and the isle-dotted coast of Maine, there is hardly a square mile of country side which does not invite the dwellers in the hot and noisy cities to come and make their summer homes in this region of cool, pure mountain air or ocean breezes. With the increasing growth of population in our cities the num- ber of those seeking country homes is steadily growing; and it is therefore important that, if we wish to have these people come to our States, we should make conditions as pleasant and attractive as possible. It must be remembered that there are many other sections of the country eagerly bidding for the summer resident, who will naturally choose the place that offers the greatest attrac- tions. While our natural advantages are unequalled, there are other considerations which affect the choice of a recreation ground, and among the most important of these is the nature and condition of the highways, and their use for pleasure travel by motor vehi- cles. The introduction and general use of the automobile have been the means of inducing a great many persons to visit sections of the country formerly unknown to them, and the desirability of a CONFERENCE OF ‘GOVERNORS. 103 given location is now very often judged by the opportunities afforded for automobile riding. I am pleased to know that the question of improved roads, making communication easy throughout all parts of this region, has been assigned to such competent authority as the Highway Commissioner for Connecticut; and I am sure that it will be agreed by this conference that whatever else is done to promote the mutual interests of these States, there must be estab- lished a system of interstate highways which will render the most remote districts accessible to tourists. In this connection I wish to refer briefly to the educational movement now being carried on by the farmers of the country, through their principal organization, the National Grange, on be- half of the general policy of road improvement by the various township, county and State authorities, and for the enactment by Congress of legislation making appropriations for the construction and maintenance of improved roads. The farmers believe that this is a purpose to which a part of the national revenues, derived from taxes paid largely by them, should properly be devoted; and they insist that the highways of the country are entitled to as much consideration as our waterways. They realize that the financial condition of many of the States will not permit of their making the large appropriations necessary to meet the urgent demand for better roads, and therefore are endeavoring to secure recognition of the principle that Congress should by legislation provide a part of the funds needed for road improvement. This is a matter of special interest in connection with the pro- posals for a complete system of trunk lines of highways for these States, since the enactment of the Currier bill, introduced in Con- gress at the request of the National Grange, would provide a fund of $6,000,000 to be used for road improvement, thus lessening the burden on the respective States, and enabling them to construct a greater mileage of improved roads. Closely allied to the question of good roads is that of the regu- lations governing the use of the highways by automobiles. The new problems created by the operation of high-powered motor vehi- cles on the public roads have been for some time under consideration by the farmers, who as the principal users of our roads are directly concerned with the preservation of the public’s right to the safe use of the highways. The extent to which this right was disre- garded by reckless drivers of automobiles forced the farmers in self-defence to seek legislation fixing the rate of speed of these vehicles. The laws enacted for this purpose were originally in- 104 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. tended to prevent injury to occupants of horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians using the highways; and, in addition to prescribing speed limits, provided a method of identification of the owners of the automobiles, and for the licensing of their chauffeurs or drivers. In some States the automobile has been regarded as a fit subject for special taxes, but in general the license fee has simply been intended to meet the expenses of registration and of ascertaining the qualifications of drivers. The experience of the past six or seven years has shown that the . different laws on this subject in the various States have resulted in a great many complications tending to discourage even the or- derly use of the automobile. In some States the natural resentment against the dangerous rate of speed at which automobiles were being operated has resulted in the enactment of unreasonable laws, which defeated their purpose by imposing regulations so stringent that they could not be enforced. It is evident that, from the point of view from which I address you, — that concerted action should be taken by these States to increase their attractiveness to the summer resident, — uniformity in our laws regulating and taxing automobiles is highly desirable. While the permanent welfare of our people requires that the use of our roads shall be regarded not only as a farmer’s question, but first and chiefly as a question of their commercial use, their use for pleasure or travelling being secondary to the transportation of the farmer’s products to market, it must be recognized that the automobile is a permanent feature of modern life, and that the owners of these vehicles have the right to the use of the highwavs, subject to such restrictions as will ensure the rights of all others. There would therefore seem to be no good reason why an agree- ment should not be arrived at upon the legislation that experience has shown to be practicable and desirable, to the end that the citizen of one State may be able to travel through other States without vexatious restrictions differing from those of his own State, and without the payment of special taxes, not imposed on non-residents using other methods of travelling. In considering the nature of the legislation on this subject which should be adopted by these States, it must be remembered that laws limiting the rate of speed at which automobiles may be operated have two purposes. The first is, of course, the prevention of accidents through driving at high speed. A second reason is the preservation of our roads against the injury due to the rapid passage over them of these pneumatic-tired vehicles. It seems CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 105 to be clearly established that the deterioration of the macadam road under automobile traffic is almost entirely due to the excessive speed at which many of these vehicles are operated. If this is true, the limitation of speed to a reasonable rate is necessary, in the interest of the maintenance of our roads as well as of the general public. Experiments have been made by the United States Office of Public Roads to ascertain the relative injury caused by auto- mobiles travelling at high and moderate speeds, and it should be possible, by prescribing a maximum rate of speed, to prevent much of the injury now complained of. It may be advisable to exact a higher license fee from owners of high-power machines than from owners of low-power machines. In reference to the limitation of the speed of automobiles for the protection of others using the roads, I am of the opinion that the principle which should govern is that any speed is unlawful when it is attended with danger to persons travelling on, or cross- ing, the highways. This is, I believe, the standard provided by the laws of Connecticut, and if intelligently enforced it should effectively prevent the reckless and dangerous driving of auto- mobiles, which has done so much to create a prejudice against them throughout the country districts. I appreciate the fact that what is an entirely safe rate of speed in some sections or on some roads may be a decidedly unsafe rate under other conditions, and that it is impossible to fix by statute the exact speed which will afford the necessary protection against accidents. It is in regard to the regulations relating to the registration and identification of automobiles, and their equipment with lights, brakes, horns, etc., that there would seem to be the greatest need for uniformity. The present diversity of laws on these points makes it possible for an automobile owner who is duly registered in his own State, and has complied with all the requirements of its laws, to be an unconscious lawbreaker in an adjoining State because of a misunderstanding as to the nature of the regulations covering certain minor details. This matter should be taken up promptly by the Legislatures of these States, so that an agreement can be reached as to a simple code of regulations, providing for the public safety, but interfering as little as possible with the orderly and reasonable use of the automobile. Uniformity is also highly desirable in regard to the taxation and licensing of automobiles. As these vehicles are personal prop- erty, and presumably taxed by the district in which their owners reside, a tax imposed by the State is double taxation, and there- 106 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. fore opposed to our principles of government. A reasonable license fee can properly be charged, but there would seem to be no justi- fication for imposing special taxes on this particular kind of property. In this connection I may refer to the proposition for federal registration of automobiles used in interstate travel, which has been advocated at several sessions of Congress. It is not proposed that Congress should interfere with the powers of the various States to prescribe regulations governing the safe operation of motor vehi- cles, but merely to provide for a system under which an automo- bile registered in the State of its owner’s residence and also by the federal government shall have the right to travel over the roads of all other States without the payment of any additional tax. It is urged by the advocates of this legislation that its enact- ment will not only do away with the present system, under which the citizen of one State is subject to vexatious restrictions and taxes by the various States through which he may wish to travel, but will tend to further the adoption of uniform and reasonable legis- lation by all the States of the Union. In conclusion, I would submit that there is urgent need for a concerted movement by the various automobile clubs and associa- tions to bring their influence to bear on the owners of these ve- hicles, with a view to securing a faithful compliance with the spirit of the laws regulating their use on the public highways. There is no question but that public sentiment is the most effective factor in checking dangerous driving; and if automobilists will join in a campaign against reckless speeding, they will make it much easier to secure the enactment of fair and liberal legislation on this subject. CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 107 SUGGESTIONS AND DISCUSSION BY THE DELEGATES. Mr. Cuaries G. ALLERTON oF MIDDLEBURY, Conn. I thought perhaps I could tell my brother farmers something about how to raise money, but as I have been asked to speak of the automobile law, I want to say in regard to the speed limit that it is absolutely impossible to enforce any speed limit that is measured by a stop watch in the hands of some officer trying to ride a bicycle or drive a motorcycle at the same time. I will read a clipping from a newspaper on this matter: — Automobile speed traps have no terrors for Walter C. Kerr, a member of the regatta committee of the New York Yacht Club. He has timed so many races that he is skeptical of the accuracy of the police eye. He succeeded yesterday in upsetting many pet theories of Bingham’s officers. Kerr was caught in a speed trap on Staten Island some days ago, and arraigned before Magistrate Marsh yester- day on the charge of breaking the speed law into small bits by driving a 60-horsepower machine at the rate of 60 miles an hour. Kerr is president of an engineering company, and between the time of his arrest and arraignment he sent a force of men down to Staten Island. He came to court with a plotted survey of the route where he was chased by the police. When Policeman Silverbar finished his testimony he was handed a roll of blue prints to identify various points and courses taken by the machine. “ Now, from where you stood, looking at an angle of 14 degrees, 14 minutes from point A,” began Kerr, “what do you estimate to be the error of the visual angle, reckoned from points B, C, and D?” “That will do, that will do,” said the magistrate. “I can see at a glance that the officer might be anywhere from 100 to 500 feet wrong, and not know it. You are discharged.” I have here clippings of similar decisions, and could read for a week the same kind of things. Now in Connecticut we say a man shall drive reasonably, at a reasonable speed, having regard to the width of street and the traffic. Every arrest that has been made has been a conviction. There is no possible way of getting out of it. Under our old law, with our speed limit of 12 miles an hour, a man could drive down through any street in our cities, 108 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. and no matter if it was 50 miles an hour, unless he was chased an eighth of a mile at a speed limit of 12 miles an hour, he could go into court and say that he was within his legal rate of speed, and the court would say to the officer, “ Prove that he was not.” Now, it is up to the officer to arrest him if he thinks the man was running dangerously. It is up to the court to say whether or not he was. The officer is through with his responsibility when he makes the arrest. It is necessary that all these things be written down in the statutes to prove anybody guilty of anything. In Hartford there was an intoxicated man driving a car. An officer’s attention was called to this man, but he refused to interfere. In an hour this drunken man ran down and killed a man. Now, it says plainly in our law that no intoxicated person shall drive a car. What good does it do for an officer to make an arrest under a speed law? There are so many more who can talk about this matter better than I can, that I will say no more about the subject. I think it is pretty well covered, except from the view point of some city automobilists. A year ago I was down in New York and went to the automobile show, and while walking around was solicited to subscribe for a motor magazine. One of the principal arguments was that it told all about the laws. I asked about the Connecticut law, and they began to explain about it. To tell the truth, I did not recog- nize the Connecticut law from their explanation. They say that farmers have “bucolic” minds. Now, I took a little pains to look that up and see what it means. It says a “ pastoral poem.” Am I a pastoral poem? It also says “humorous, a joke.” That reminds me of a story of a city man who did not know what else to do, so he started a country paper, and in it he undertook to tell how to pick out a good cow. Several years afterward one of his subscribers wrote to him to come and see him, so he went. He was driving along, and he asked of this friend who lived in the country, “What kind of an animal is that over in that pasture?” “Why, that is a cow,” said his friend. Now, in regard to raising money, J am a plain man and never had any public experience. I live in a little town which covers about 5 square miles, with 720 inhabitants. When I went there, there had not been a sale of real estate made in years. All the business the town clerk did was to record mortgages and judgments. There was not a place in the town outside of some half dozen home- steads that you could not buy. In fact, I bought a place at a foreclosure sale. The man said, “ All J want is my money.” I CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 109 bought this place for $300, and mortgaged the place back. A half mile from me a similar tract sold for $4,000 ten years ago, and sold at that price because the buyers were willing to mortgage it back for the whole amount. Within one year that tract that sold for $4,000 has sold for $20,000. They gave the buildings away, and have started to improve it. I feel a little nervous in talking of apples because I come from a strong prohibition town, but apples did not do that. We have taken advantage of every appropriation to build roads. I went to Hartford. My good friend the Governor-elect, a man I had known for thirty years, was our Congressman at large. I told him my ambition was to be House chairman of the committee on roads, bridges and rivers, and I wanted him to help me. I said, “T am not going to anybody else, but I want your help.” He said, “ That is quite a position for a man from your town, and a new man, but I will do what I can.” That means a lot when a man does what he can. Some of the politicians asked me what I was going to pick out. I told them I wanted roads, bridges and rivers. They said that was one of the worst ones up there. I got it. Many came to me and said, “ We helped you a great deal. We had to work like everything to drive them off.” It seems nobody else would have it. I introduced a little bill which says the State of Connecticut shall build trunk lines which shall be in the hands absolutely of the Highway Commission. At the bottom of it it says that the State of Connecticut would spend a million dollars a year. That was a joke up there. I want to tell you what it means for the State of Connecticut to issue bonds. There has not been a bond issued but war bonds, and there are only $250,000 of these left. There is a million dollars in the treasury to pay these bonds. They are bought wherever they can be. “ Issue bonds, — not on your life.” Well, it drifted along that way. I kept at work, and in our General Assembly we had an association of farmers. They may have bucolic minds, —I do not know. I said, “ Gentlemen, it is up to us now, — we are here. These politicians get what they want, and we do not get anything. It is up to us. We have got the votes.” They did not know me, and I did not know many of them. Finally they concluded I was right. [At this point Mr. Allerton’s time expired. ] Governor Guitp. In Connecticut the maximum speed limit which must not be exceeded on any road and under any conditions is 25 miles an hour. The automobile is treated like any other vehi- cle inside this limit. If it is driven recklessly, the driver is treated 110 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. exactly as is a man who drives a pair of horses recklessly. Hach case is judged on its merits, and the Connecticut law appreciates that whereas 25 miles an hour may not be too fast on an open road with no vehicles coming, 8 miles an hour might be a dangerous rate of speed in the crowded streets of a great city. Hon. Paut D. Sarcent, Aucusta, Mr., State Highway Com- MISSIONER. I just wanted to say, in connection with the problem of trunk line construction, that in the State of Maine we have only this year made a start in the building of State roads under State supervision, although we have had a State road law since 1901. Work has been carried on without any supervision until the present year. Under our law each town which makes appropriation for State road work has its main thoroughfare designated as the State road. Some 470 towns have had such thoroughfares designated. These thor- oughfares average in length about 6 miles, and altogether we have at present about 3,000 miles of trunk lines so designated. During the last seven years there has been expended about $800,000, and in a way there has been reconstructed a little more than 400,000 miles. The present year about $250,000. have been expended in reconstructing about 90 miles of this main thoroughfare. The problem that confronts us in the State of Maine is our vast area of sparsely settled territory and our lack of money. For example, we have an area equal to about that of the five other New England States. We have a valuation about one-tenth that of the State of Massachusetts, and we have about as many people in the whole State as there are in the city of Boston. I just wanted to bring out a few of these facts, to show you how difficult will be the problem of getting trunk lines in our State. We have a law, however, which provides for the building of trunk lines with the surplus funds appropriated by the State after the apportionment is made for the various towns that apply for State aid, and under the provisions of that law in time we will get some of these trunk lines constructed. Mr. A. M. Lyman, Montacur, Mass., SrcRETARY MassacHu- SETTS CREAMERY ASSOCIATION. A greeting is in order by me from the Massachusetts Creamery Association to you in this noble and grand work that you have undertaken, and the association wishes to assure you of its co- operation. Co-operation is the motto of the association. It is an CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 111 association of co-operative creameries of western Massachusetts. There is one thing that has not been brought out in these meetings. In gathering the cream for the creameries, it comes to us very largely over crossways and byways which are in very poor condition ; and, while we do not expect that things will be changed at once, in time we hope there will be a great improvement, because there is need of it, and a better chance for improvement here than in any other line I know of in the development of our rural communities in the western part of the Commonwealth. We hope the Governors of our States will use their influence that we may have better roads in our towns. If you will pardon the expression, most of our roads seem only to have been whitewashed over. That is all it amounts to on these cross roads I have spoken about. Mr. Lewis R. Spears oF Boston, First VicE-PRresiDENT AMERI- cAN AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION. I esteem it a great honor to be called upon to respond for the American Automobile Association, which is our national body. The New England States as automobilists are certainly interested in having some kind of uniformity in the law. Some of our mem- bers have said that they did not care what the law was, if we could only have a law that you could understand, and which would be somewhat similar in its principles in the different States; and this is particularly true of New England, where, under the modern form of driving the automobile, we can cover three States easily in one day. I myself had the pleasure of driving from the beautiful State of Maine (Poland Springs) through the White Mountains, landing in the green hills of Vermont with my family for supper at Wood- stock, all in one day. Now, it is absolutely impossible for any one, under the present code, to know the laws of the different States. When we pass a State line we ought to take a lawyer into the machine with us, and pay his fare, and we need to be pretty well assured that he is a lawyer conversant with the automobile laws of his own State, at that. The State of New Hampshire, I am informed, requires that the horn shall be blown at every cross road and blind curve. We do not question but that it is a good law, but it is not the law of Massachusetts, and I will guarantee that there are many auto- mobilists of New Hampshire who are not aware that this is a part of the law; and the result is, that there was a trap set at Jaffrey last summer where many foreign automobiles were arrested because they did not blow their horns going over the crossing of 112 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. the roads. If this law is a good thing, we wish every State in the Union would pass that law, and then we will know what the law is. In our own State of Massachusetts a foreign car can come in, and if it does not stay more than seven days, no license need be taken out. You cannot drive the car, though, unless the chauffeur has taken out a license, which was an unintentional blunder in the law, but that is the way it works out. There certainly is great need, so far as our New England laws are concerned, that we should understand them clearly and that they should be codified and de- fined, so that we may comply with them. We have been very much interested in these addresses, and espe- cially Governor Bachelder’s address; and I can assure him, for the American Automobile Association, that it is the desire of that body to do everything it can to co-operate with the officers of the law in executing all fair automobile laws and discourage reckless driving wherever it occurs in any part of the country. Our board of directors at its last meeting passed a resolution discouraging speed runs between different States, and asking the manufacturers of automobiles to have nothing to do with them; also, asking the papers not to publish accounts of them. I can say for the Bay State Automobile Association, one of our Boston clubs, that they posi- tively refused to have anything to do with a record run from Bos- ton to New York. It was given up and not run, on that account. It is the desire of the national body and the State bodies that all reckless driving in every way shall be discouraged, and that all offenders shall be brought to justice; and they have pledged their aid in that line. Mr. Francis Hurtusts, Jr., Boston, AUTOMOBILE ATTORNEY. I think Governor Bachelder struck the keynote here to-day when he spoke of uniformity of laws on the sane use of automobiles on the highways. I met him at the Algonquin Club last night, and took him to see something that would arouse the spirit of an auto- mobilist. He has been eminently fair in his remarks about the use of the highways by motor vehicles, but they have been gen- erally criticised, and I, as an attorney, come in contact with hun- dreds or thousands of cases where motorists are coming into contact with all kinds of difficulties. I have to come down to the small things which the Governors of the States probably know very little about. In connection with this law we have here in Massa- chusetts practically the forerunner of all the sane speed laws in CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 113 the Union. The Connecticut law is merely a copy of the Massa- chusetts law, and the Massachusetts law we think is about as good as any in the country. His Excellency referred to the fact that there was a maximum limit in the State of Connecticut. There is no maximum limit there; there is merely a prima facie limit, just the same as there is in Massachusetts, but in Massachusetts it is a limit of 20 miles an hour and in Connecticut about 25 miles an hour, and they have copied our regulations regarding the width of road, the amount of traffic, etc. We have heard that the automobile is the cause of a great deal of destruction to the highways. Mr. Parker referred to the fact that 53 per cent. of the road destruction was due to automobiles. He forgot to tell you that in Massachusetts this last year we con- tributed $120,000 to the $240,000 required for the maintenance of this 800 miles of highway. In the New England States we have to-day more than 30,000 motor vehicles registered. These vehicles are worth more than $50,000,000. Their owners contribute to the several States, in the way of registrations, fines, etc., more than $200,000 per annum. In the way of local taxation they con- tribute to municipal treasuries hundreds of thousands of dollars per annum. The people who own these automobiles now drive them practically ten months of the year. They are men of high standing in the community in which they live. They desire to see law and order prevail. They are anxious to contribute their share in maintaining the government, but they are anxious also that they shall be treated somewhere near equal to other classes of users of the highway. At the present time they are not. My friend Governor Bachelder referred to the fact that the grange had got after the motorists in regard to speed. I wish Governor Bachelder would assist us in making it necessary for all vehicles to carry at least one lamp at night. We have sought for several years to secure this self-protecting law, and yet it is turned down by the very people who are most to be benefited by it. Only this morning a man here in Boston asked me to bring this light bill again to the attention of the Legislature. That is not the only bill that is coming up, but that is one on which the State Grange can help us very much. The average vehicle carries a lantern, but it is often not lighted. We have a non-resident law that is in operation in many States. In Maine anybody may operate, and also in New Hampshire. In Massachusetts it was recently discovered that an automobile might be operated here for seven days, but it would have to operate itself, unless the owner was with it. In 114 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. Connecticut an owner’s servant cannot operate the automobile, even if the owner were in the car with him. In Connecticut I under- stand there is a non-resident law, and the Secretary of State sends notifications that persons must be residents to operate a car. In Rhode Island the law is practically the same as in New Hampshire. There is another class of legislation that has interfered with the motorists. In three of the New England States local ordinances are prohibited; in three other States they are permitted. I trust there will be influence enough this year to force through the Legislature a bill abolishing local regulations, and putting the entire regulation of the motor under the Highway Commission in the several States. Mr. Parker has referred to the fact that we should exclude local politics. The trap is a local political affair, to make some people hold office for life, and in some places to enable the town treasuries to build up their roads for other purposes. It strikes me that the State of Massachusetts should lead the way in this regard by controlling the entire driving of motors throughout the State. I should like to see the Highway Commission given 25 or 50 officers, these men to be mounted, controlling the various dis- tricts, so that our towns should be taken care of, and eliminate this graft element that has been worked up in the towns for several years past. Another correction that should be made in the law this year is in regard to the registration of automobiles. At the present time a man purchases an automobile and pays $5 for registration; he sells the machine in one month; neither he nor the purchaser of the vehicle has the benefit of the license. I think that one fee for a year ought to be our rates. I trust that will be another amendment to the law. In Massachusetts the question of fees is very important. They have defeated the increased fee according to the horse-power of the car. I do not know the disposition of the authorities this year, but I think if they would confer with the motorists, as they should do also in all the New England States, we would get at some sane fee as to our share in the maintenance of the highways; but I think when we have contributed one-half, as at present, we are doing pretty well. I only hope the Governors of the several New England States will see fit to appoint at a very early date three commissioners to meet in a conference and to formulate more uniform provisions, in order that we may get somewhere near a uniform law for the New England States; because at present a good automobile can CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 115 traverse all our New England States. I believe that will be the solution of the whole problem. Governor Guitp. As I understand the Connecticut law, an auto- mobile running over 25 miles an hour furnishes prima facie evi- dence that it is overspeeding; that is what I understand by a maximum speed. In Massachusetts it is 20 miles an hour. Mr. Hurtvusis. Yes; that is correct. Cot. Wu. D. Souter, Beverty Farms, MremBer MassacHUsEtts HicHway CoMMISSION. So much has been said on the laws of automobiles that I may only say that each of the States can learn something and get some benefit from the others. Rhode Island requires the licensee to write his name on the license. It requires the court to record the conviction of that licensee on the license, and the next court knows whether there have been one or two previous convictions, and the board that issues that license knows how many times that man has been caught. The automobile laws are like the speed trap; they do not mean anything when you merely read them. Our local regulations here do not mean anything. The selectmen of the towns have come to us, and we have put up a sign. They have then abolished the trap. The sign is put up making the maximum speed 12 miles an hour, and then everybody runs 30 miles, if they wish. There is only one way to regulate automobile travel, and that is to take the reckless, drunken operator off the road. I am glad to hear from the representative of the Bay State and the Na- tional Automobile Association. We drew our laws last year after consultation with these gentlemen, and we got into our laws some things that proved a benefit. I would like to know what the other States are doing in that line, — taking the reckless driver off the road. The Highway Commission of Massachusetts has this year considered 142 cases of reckless operation or court cases; it has had 71 hearings; it has investigated 12 deaths; it has investigated 26 cases of accidents ; and it has had 31 court cases. I have yet to hear that any one has claimed that the Highway Commission has taken away anybody’s license improperly. I read in the papers of four people killed in Connecticut, and I wondered what had been done about it. What is done here is, that we suspend the license. We investigate the case, and we revoke that license when the operator has killed any- body, unless the Highway Commission finds affirmatively that the 116 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. accident happened without serious fault on the part of the operator. We do find that. We have had people step off a moving street ear in front of an automobile, and we have had cases of a father running out and pulling his daughter in front of an automobile. We have found that an automobilist could not stop for 100 feet, — that he saw the person crossing the road, but was not operating at a rate of speed that enabled him to look after that person properly, — and he has lost his license. Thirty-four licenses have been re- voked, and about one-half of these are chauffeurs; we have sus- pended 50, 24 of whom were chauffeurs; we have dismissed with a warning 45; and we have written innumerable warning letters. We have about 17,000 automobiles registered. It is true that the number of accidents shows that the automobilists are more or less reckless, or are pretty unfortunate in skidding; but one curious thing since we began to take the reckless men off the road is this: the number of accidents increased with the number of automobiles from 320 to 380, — that is, collisions ; the number of people injured by these collisions went from three hundred and odd to two hun- dred and odd, — one-third less people injured, with a larger number of accidents. The number of deaths was reduced from 41 in the three summer months of 1907 to 13 in the same period of this year. Does that not show that reasonable regulation — taking the reckless drivers off the road (and you will have the co-operation of every automobile association in that) — will bring us sane opera- tion and safe roads? MassacuuseTts Higuway Commission’s Recorp, Jan. 1908, To Dec. 15, 1908. LIcENSES. RESULT oF — Court | Investiga- Pr Revoked. | Suspended. || pocord, tion. Hearing. Intoxication, 6 7 8 1 Reckless, 24 21 22 ll 12 Taking automobile without owner’s consent, . 2 2 - 2 2 Unlicensed operator, 1 - - 1 Three convictions of overspeeding, - 5 5 - Not stopping for officer, . 1 - - - 1 be} a ing after suspension of license, - A 1 1 = 2 Improper operation, . : 3 14 1 16 Incompetent operator, 1 - - 1 Deaths, 7 3 10 - Totals, . 46 63 OS 36 27 36 / CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 117 Recorp or AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS. Turex SumMER Monrus. June, 1907, to June, 1908. 1907. 1908. Total number killed, . . “i . . 41 13 62 In automobiles, . . Z . . 18 3 21 Pedestrians, . . ‘ ‘ 4 22 9 - Bicycle riders, . . . F fi 1 g1 412 Total number Mie . s . . 313 222 640 In automobiles, . . 5 . . 187 72 240 In carriages, ete., . . . . . 58 42 = In trolley cars, a é ‘ A A 8 3 Bicycle riders, . . . . . 18 21 - Pedestrians, . . < fe . . 102 84 4002 Total number collisions, . a A . 211 280 707 With other autononiled, . . “ 27 17 92 With teams, etc, . é a . 57 59 a With bleyales, ‘ . . . . 14 26 1462 With trolley cars, . i . 5 3 40 27 74 With trees, posts, etc., . o . . 18 65 99 With pedescriene, : . ‘ ‘ . 84 95 296 Trains, . . : = . é - 1 = 1 In teams. 2 All others. ArtHurR W. Dean, Concorp, N. H., State ENGINEER or NEw HAMPSHIRE. Highway construction, trunk lines and automobile regulations have been so thoroughly and ably discussed by the speakers that very little can be added to their statements. Highway construction is now in the revolutionary stage, due to the rapidly increasing use of automobiles; and we do not yet know what is the most economical and effective construction of road sur- face for this new kind of traffic, and will not know until sufficient time has elapsed to witness the results of experiments now being and to be tried; and no legislation, other than to provide sufficient funds, can hasten or assist in the determination of the proper sur- face. Regarding trunk lines, I wish to say that the State of New Hamp- shire in 1905 commenced to co-operate with the towns and cities in the permanent improvement of the main roads of the State, and although in some instances local needs were so strongly presented that some money was expended on roads that may not become trunk lines, yet in a large percentage of the towns the roads improved may eventually become links in a trunk line system. In 1907 the Legislature of New Hampshire took a long step towards final at- tainment of the trunk line system by providing for a more rapid construction of a road leading up the Merrimack valley from the Massachusetts line at Nashua to Lake Winnepesaukee, and about 118 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 30 miles of this road have been improved, some portions with macadam surface and some with gravel. The routes of trunk lines in New Hampshire conform closely with any routes that might be constructed in adjoining States, hence any legislation in New Hampshire on these lines would conform closely with that of other States. Absolute enforcement of the existing laws in the States regu- lating the speed of automobiles would assist greatly in the preser- vation of the road surfaces, it being now a well-known fact that a machine going at a high rate of speed is far more destructive than when moving at a speed of 25 miles per hour or less. Such absolute enforcement, however, has not been and probably never will be obtained so long as the regulations are of such nature that every operator is practically obliged at times to disobey some regulation imposed, thereby making him careless of all regulations. For the safety of the public and the preservation of the roads, the several States ought to pass uniform laws regulating the operation of automobiles, and such laws should be so framed that any operator can at all times obey every clause in the law. A speed of 25 miles per hour on country roads is ample, and at the same time ordinarily safe, and if it could be enforced would go far towards assisting in the preservation of road surfaces. Such a speed, however, should not be permitted in compact sections of cities or towns; but in- stead of limiting the speed in such portions to such slow rate that it is difficult to operate the machine, it should be limited to a reasonable rate of speed, not exceeding 15 miles per hour. CoNCLUSION. Governor Cops (of Maine). In behalf of the visiting Governors and the delegates to this conference, I have been asked to express to His Excellency Governor Guild and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts something of the appreciation we all feel because of the courtesies we have had extended to us. Governor Guild has been an ideal host, and his hospitality has been generous, most courteous and absolutely without fault. If any good shall come from these meetings, the credit will belong to him, for it was he who took the initiative. But the old Bay State has always been first in every movement calculated to benefit the people, and if this movement, under the wise leadership of Governor Guild, shall be a success, the Commonwealth is but true to her old traditions. It has therefore been moved and seconded that the thanks of the CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 119 Governors and of the delegates be extended to His Excellency Gov- ernor Guild and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the hos- pitality that we have enjoyed, and all those who are in favor of the passage of that motion will manifest it by saying “ Aye,” and those opposed “No.” The ayes have it, and that vote stands as the expression of this audience. Governor GuiLp (of Massachusetts). Governor Cobb and gen- tlemen of the conference, I thank you more than I can say for your kind and generous words to one who, for lack of a better, happens to be at present the Chief Executive of this good old Common- wealth of Massachusetts. In her name I can only say that we hope that you have found yourself at home, for no New Englander should feel himself a stranger within the limits of the Bay State. It has been a high privilege, which we greatly appreciate, that you have been good enough to choose this Commonwealth and this city, its capital, as the place of meeting for the First New England Conference. It happened that the Pilgrims landed within the limits of this Commonwealth, but the influence of the Pilgrims and the Puritans and those who came after them and formed New England has spread all over the United States of America. So if this little grain of mustard seed which we have planted here in favor of a better understanding between the States shall spread until it covers not only New England but the entire country, the credit will be due, Sir, to no one individual and to no one Common- wealth, but to all the Governors and all the States assisting in the planting.