OYSTER CULTURE IN AMERICA. 735 



identical with the one we have given above that the 

 demand has outgrown the supply. 



He says : " No mere restriction of the fishing can 

 possibly accomplish the desired end. It may prevent the 

 extinction of the beds as they are now, though that is 

 doubtful. It certainly will not relieve in the least the 

 present condition of the market. What should be done is 

 to adopt a policy similar in essential features to that of 

 Connecticut. The fishery of that State is one of the few 

 instances of recuperation on record. I know of many 

 destroyed oyster fisheries, and I know of a few that have 

 been rebuilt, and I find one cause common to all failures, 

 and as common to all successes. In the first instance, the 

 fishery has been common property, its preservation every- 

 body's business that is, nobody's and consequently it 

 has not been preserved. In the second instance, the 

 fishery has been conducted and owned by persons singly 

 and together, as private property ; it has been this, that, or 

 the other man's business, to see to its preservation ; that 

 is, its preservation has been everybody's business instead 

 of nobody's, and consequently it has been preserved." 



The emergency can be met by legislation to prohibit 

 dredging and wholesale fishing, and to drive the oyster 

 business out of our State, but we can hardly conceive a 

 greater misfortune to our people than this would be. Still, 

 if this were the only way to preserve our oysters, we should 

 be the first to recommend it, and thus preserve for the 

 people of our tide-water counties the supply of cheap 

 food, which nature has placed within their reach ; but, 

 fortunately, this is not the only remedy, and it is quite 

 possible to increase our annual supply of oysters many 

 hundredfold. 



