766 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



PRIVATE CULTURE AND CULTURE BY THE STATE. 



Oyster cultivation may be carried on by the State, or 

 by private citizens, and as both of these plans have been 

 tried, we may learn from the history of the industry in 

 other places which of these plans is most likely to be 

 successful. 



. . . . Nothing, which can be safely intrusted to 

 private enterprise, should be undertaken by the State, and 

 the history of the oyster fishing of Connecticut and Rhode 

 Island, as well as that of France, shows that oyster culture 

 can safely be intrusted to the private interest of the oyster 

 farmers. 



. . . . (But as) our own people have, at present, 

 little practical experience in the methods of oyster farming, 

 and are not yet prepared to engage extensively in the 

 business, we . . . believe that it will be wise for the 

 State to set aside a tract of oyster bottom as a State oyster 

 farm, and to replenish and restock it, in order to exhibit to 

 our people the value of oyster farming, and to give them 

 an opportunity to witness the methods of working and the 

 practical results ; and also in order to obtain a more exact 

 and definite estimation of the value of our oyster bottoms 

 per acre. The establishment of such an oyster-farm will 

 require a large investment of capital for a year or two, but 

 a system of thorough cultivation for a term of five or six 

 years could be made to return this investment, besides 

 yielding a great quantity of oysters for the use of the 

 public. 



. As soon as the State farm is fully stocked 

 with marketable oysters, which would probably be in about 

 three seasons, it should be thrown open to the public, but 

 a record should be kept of all the oysters removed from it, 



