OYSTER CULTURE IN AMERICA. 729 



length, and warmly recommended, a plan which was em- 

 ployed two years after by the people of Connecticut on a 

 very extensive scale, and with such good effect, that the 

 oyster grounds of that State have been raised in three 

 years from a position of insignificance to the front rank. 



If the importance of shelling our oyster bottoms with 

 dead and clean oyster shells had been recognized at the 

 time when we recommended this practice, and if the laws 

 which are needed for its encouragement had then been 

 enacted, our oyster supply would now be in no danger of 

 exhaustion. 



The recommendation met with no attention, as it was 

 looked upon as the impractical view of a student ; but our 

 people may perhaps be able to learn from the practical 

 example of Connecticut what they would not learn on the 

 authority of a scientific paper If our popula- 

 tion were increased fifty fold, the oysters needed for home 

 consumption would even then be only a small part of the 

 supply which our waters can be made to furnish ; and 

 everyone who is interested in Maryland, all business men 

 who will be benefited by an increase in wealth and popu- 

 lation, all farmers who pay taxes to the State, and all per- 

 sons who own property here, should awaken to the fact 

 'that our greatest source of wealth is almost absolutely unde- 

 veloped. 



The wealth which is within the reach of our people 

 and their descendants, from the oyster grounds of the 

 State, is great almost beyond expression, and it is not too 

 much to affirm that the money value of the grounds under 

 the water is equal to that of the dry land. 



. . . . Our present oyster policy has had a 

 thorough trial, extending over a long term of years, and 



