I So THE OYSTER. 



always been so firmly convinced that our supply was 

 inexhaustible, that all warnings have been disregarded, 

 and we have never taken the first step towards reform 

 a thorough examination of the exact condition of 

 our resources. 



The world will scarcely believe that in a State whose 

 largest and most characteristic industry depends on 

 the oyster, the oyster-beds have never been thoroughly 

 examined or even surveyed and mapped, but this is 

 the case. For many years I have urged the import- 

 ance of thorough periodical examinations of the beds 

 as a basis for the intelligent regulation of the fishery, 

 but this work has never been undertaken by the State. 

 If it had been, the result would long ago have proved 

 to every one with absolute conclusiveness, before the 

 damage was past remedy, what has been perfectly 

 obvious for many years to all who have studied the 

 subject, that our beds are being exhausted and ruined 

 by our present system. 



In 1882 I was appointed a commissioner to examine 

 the condition of the oyster-beds of the State and to 

 report the same to the next General Assembly, but no 

 means for the prosecution of a survey of the beds were 

 provided. This would have required a large force of 

 trained assistants, with expensive appliances, and even 

 then it would have been the work of years, and I was 

 forced to content myself with a mere superficial ex- 

 amination. In this I was most effectually aided by 

 the intelligence and enthusiasm of my fellow-commis- 

 sioner, the late Capt. Jas. I. Waddell, and the Governor 



