THE OYSTER. 217 



other obstructions from the most valuable spawning 

 grounds, and the area which is now available is re- 

 stricted to the lower reaches of the rivers, where there 

 is little proper food for the young, and where the bot- 

 toms are so continually and assiduously swept by drift 

 nets and seines that each fish is surely captured soon 

 after its arrival. The number of eggs which are 

 naturally deposited is now very small, for while the 

 spawning-grounds have increased from 1,600,000 to 

 2,600,000, the take in salt water has increased from 

 2,500,000 to 5,000,000, and the shores of our bays and 

 sounds are now so lined by fyke nets and pounds that 

 the number of shad which reach the spawning-grounds 

 at all is proportionately much less than it was in 1880, 

 and more shad are now taken each year in salt water, 

 where spawning is impossible, than were taken 

 altogether in 1880. 



This fact, rightly considered, means that the shad is 

 now an artificial product like the crops of grain and 

 fruit which are harvested on our farms and orchards. 



If more shad than the natural supply were taken in 

 1880 in all waters, and if still greater numbers are now 

 taken each year in deep water, before they reach the 

 spawning-ground, it follows that we are now entirely 

 dependent upon the artificial supply. 



This short history will serve to show that we must 

 look to an increase in the supply of oysters as the only 

 remedy for the scarcity, and that we can hope for no 

 benefit from new laws to regulate the method of taking 

 the oysters. 

 16 



