222 THE OYSTER. 



greatly increased, and there is, therefore, nothing in 

 the nature of the oyster to demand the closure of the 

 beds in April and May. 



I believe that no increase in the value of our beds 

 can be hoped for until it is brought about by private 

 cultivation, and that the State should use every possi- 

 ble means to foster and encourage the oyster-planting 

 and oyster-farming industries. I show elsewhere that 

 the States where the oyster industry is most prosper- 

 ous have found it necessary and to their advantage to 

 use the natural beds chiefly as a supply of seed for 

 planting, and I believe that whenever the people of our 

 State are prepared to use our great natural advantages 

 for oyster culture, it will be wise to throw open the 

 natural beds in the summer time, but at present such 

 a measure would result in the depletion of the beds, 

 without any compensating advantage. 



Soon after the young oysters are born they fasten 

 themselves to stones, gravel, bricks, plaster, bottles, 

 empty shells, living oysters and other clean, hard sub- 

 stances. They are at first so small and flat that they 

 are in no danger of injury by dredgers, and there is, 

 therefore, no reason why the taking of marketable 

 oysters should not be continued all summer if the large 

 oysters could be taken away without the young 

 ones, but these are at first so small that they are in- 

 visible, and for several months they are too small to be 

 removed from the shells of larger oysters. As it is 

 very difficult to enforce culling laws, the opening of 

 the public beds immediately after the spawning season 



