CHAPTER IV. 



THE ARTIFICIAL CULTIVATION OF OYSTERS. 



If the Chesapeake Bay is as rich in food for oysters 

 as I have said, and if the oyster multiplies at such a 

 rate of increase, how can our supply be in any danger, 

 or how can there be any need for man to maintain and 

 develop the oyster-beds? At first sight it does not 

 seem possible that an animal which is protected from 

 enemies by a strong stony shell, and which is capable 

 of giving rise to several million eggs each season, can 

 be in any danger of extermination ; and it seems as if 

 the oyster ought to be able to hold its own in the 

 struggle for existence, and to increase and multiply 

 in spite of adverse circumstances. 



We should rather expect 'to find the whole bottom 

 of the bay paved with oysters, and for many years, the 

 statement that there is any need for measures to pre- 

 vent the destruction of our natural beds and the total 

 extermination of our oysters has been met with ridicule, 

 and it has been flatly contradicted by persons whose 

 qualifications for expressing an opinion would seem 

 to be very great. 



In 1884 a commissioner, who had been appointed 

 by the General Assembly of the State of Maryland to 



