OYSTER CULTURE IN AMERICA. 789 



No. angles taken, ashore 2 >334 



No. stations occupied in boats 5>6 2 9 



No. determinations specific gravity 2,500 



Total area examined, acres 1,325,419 



These results have been obtained with a total expen- 

 diture, to January ist, 1889, for ''party expenses," of 



gi, 227. 88, and of $558.49 for "repairs." 



probably nowhere in the world, unless it was in France 

 after Coste's investigations and experiments, has an exa- 

 mination and survey been followed so immediately by such 

 valuable results as has been the case in North Carolina. 



Prior to the investigation there existed a few natural 

 oyster-beds, and an inefficient and precarious system of 

 cultivating a few hundred acres of bottom, under a law 

 which offered no inducement to enterprise nor encourage- 

 ment to exertion, and which afforded no protection to 

 either public or private property. As a direct result of the 

 efforts of the authorities of the State, and of the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey, the area of the public property has been 

 extended over fifty per cent. ; the reputation of the stock 

 has sensibly increased ; the Legislature has adopted a law 

 which has been generally characterised as the wisest in 

 existence, and in the short space of a year lands to the 

 extent of over 50,000 acres have been entered for the pur- 

 pose of cultivating oysters. The ultimate result cannot be 

 foreseen. But it is not unreasonable to predict that the 

 few hundreds of dollars expended on the investigation of 

 Pamplico Sound and its tributaries will be the means, in 

 the not distant future, of establishing an industry worth 

 hundreds of thousands of dollars, employing many thou- 

 sand people, and supporting many thousand more ; return- 

 ing a considerable income to the State, and largely increas- 

 ing the present supply of marketable oysters. 



