THE OYSTER. 155 



my own opinion of the way in which a new oyster 

 policy should be introduced. 



Every one agrees that, whatever may be the remedy, 

 our method of managing the oyster industry so far has 

 been a failure. It has had a thorough trial, extending 

 through many years, and here are some of the results : 

 It has yielded on the average some ten million bushels 

 of oysters annually from grounds which are capable 

 of yielding five hundred million bushels each year. 

 It has led to the ruin of some of our finest beds, and 

 to the very great injury of all of them, while other 

 States have greatly increased the value of their beds 

 at the same time that they have enlarged and extended 

 the fisheries instead of restricting them. 



It has given a precarious employment for a few 

 months in each year to about fifty thousand oyster- 

 men, while our grounds should give profitable employ- 

 ment, the year round, to five hundred thousand. 



It has paid to the oystermen about two million 

 dollars a year, although our grounds should pay their 

 cultivators more than sixty million dollars a year. 

 Our six hundred thousand acres of oyster-ground 

 have paid to the State treasury about $50,000 a year, 

 which it has cost the State about $52,000 to collect; 

 and it has paid about $10,000 a year to the School 

 Fund, while our revenue would be more than $6,000,- 

 ooo if it were no greater per acre than the revenue from 

 the oyster-grounds of Rhode Island. 



In other States, money invested in the oyster busi- 

 ness has paid an annual interest of more than 200 per 



