204 THE OYSTER. 



is no time to cull them. Even when a captain is dis- 

 posed to cull on the beds, he may be compelled by 

 stormy weather, to run for harbor, and will then employ 

 his crew in culling the oysters while lying in harbor. 

 The shells are then dumped overboard in heaps around 

 the anchorage, and even if the bottom should by chance 

 be favorable for the growth of the oysters, they are 

 smothered and killed under the heaps of shells. 



The only way in which this can be prevented is by 

 making it to the interest of the fisherman to save rather 

 than to destroy the small oysters, and this can be done 

 by the encouragement of planting. There is enough 

 suitable ground under our waters to rear to maturity 

 all the seed oysters which the natural beds now yield, 

 and the time is sure to come when it will not pay the 

 fisherman to destroy those which cannot be sold to 

 the packers, and it will not be necessary to legislate for 

 their protection. 



The aim of the culling law is twofold : first, to pre- 

 serve the young oysters, and secondly, to compel the 

 return of the dead shells to the beds, that they may 

 serve for the attachment of spat. 



The value of these shells for this purpose is not very 

 great, as they are usually decayed and slimy and cov- 

 ered with sponge, but it is undoubtedly true that they 

 are sufficiently valuable to justify the culling law. 

 The dry, clean shells which accumulate at the packing 

 houses during the winter are far more valuable, and if 

 these could be returned to the beds in the summer, a 

 great increase in fertility would certainly follow. 



