1062 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



external conditions of life, yet they wish an exception to 

 this law of nature in favour of the oyster. They wish for 

 miracles in order that oysters may be supplied to the many 

 who are now oyster-eaters, as cheaply and plentifully as 

 they formerly were to the few who at that time appreciated 

 their value. 



The object of a good oyster industry is to gain from 

 the territory cultivated the greatest possible profit, and at 

 the same time to render the industry permanent. 

 A breeder of cattle who would maintain a certain definite 

 degree of productiveness in his herd, must keep a definite 

 number of breeding animals. ... A profitable perma- 

 nent system of oyster-culture is also dependent upon the 

 same law. Hence its foundation is the preservation of a 

 stock of mature breeding oysters. No artificial system has 

 yet succeeded in bringing to maturity, in inclosed pares, 

 generation after generation of oysters, and the most clever 

 breeders are obliged to rely upon the natural banks in 

 order to obtain breeding oysters, or young, for their fatten- 

 ing-ponds. Hence the foundation of all oyster-production, 

 whether artificial or natural, is the preservation of a stock 

 of full-grown breeding oysters upon the natural oyster- 

 banks. . . . The preservation of oyster-beds is as 

 much a question of statesmanship as the preservation of 

 forests, (e) 



Before I proceed any further it were as well, perhaps, 

 if I describe what is properly a " natural oyster-bed." 

 Very few people know what is and what constitutes one. 

 Indeed it is only a matter of opinion at the best, and 

 opinioris are likely to be influenced largely by self-interest. 

 A large number of persons make a distinction between 

 oyster-beds that ebb dry and those that are covered at all 

 (e) " The Oyster and Oyster Culture." Mobius. 



