THE OYSTER. 133 



does not respect the right of the private owner to the 

 oysters which he has planted. 



The " five-acre law " of Maryland puts it within the 

 power of any resident of the State to obtain land for 

 this purpose, but the industry has never attained to 

 much importance here, partly on account of the absence 

 of sufficient protection, and partly no doubt through the 

 feeling that our large and apparently inexhaustible 

 natural beds render private enterprise unnecessary. 



In Virginia more attention has been given to plant- 

 ing, and in some of the States north of us all the land 

 that is fit for the purpose is thus occupied. In many 

 States, as in Delaware, a great part of New Jersey, 

 and especially in Rhode Island, the natural beds have 

 been so heavily drawn upon that they long ago ceased 

 to furnish any marketable oysters, and they are now 

 valuable only as a source from which a supply of 

 small oysters can be gathered each year for planting. 

 The spat from the few mature oysters which escape 

 the fishermen, and that which drifts on to the beds from 

 the planting grounds and from the scattered oysters 

 which still exist in protected places, keep up the sup- 

 ply from year to year, and its value is increased hun- 

 dreds of times by the planting system. 



The industry does not require a large capital, and it 

 can be carried on with profit on a very small scale, 

 although the oysters need constant and intelligent at- 

 tention. In all places where it has been employed it 

 has added greatly to the prosperity of the communities 

 which have engaged in it, and has greatly increased 



