ARTIFICIAL OYSTER CULTURE. 1063 



states of the tide a distinction which, it is needless to 

 say, does not have any sound foundation to rest upon. 

 Many also appear to think that a natural bed is not a 

 " natural bed" in the meaning of the law, because it is a 

 little one. On the other hand, there are some whose 

 definition of a natural bed is so liberal that it not only 

 covers all places where oysters were in the past or are in 

 the present, but includes any area where they might, could, 

 would, or should grow in the future. Arguments have 

 been made to the effect that, as the drifting spat was evi- 

 dently a product of nature, wherever the spat attached or 

 oysters grew that spot became a natural oyster-bed. Evi- 

 dently such a view would preclude any and every system of 

 oyster culture. On the other hand, it has been argued 

 that small groups and bunches of oysters, separated and 

 .distinct from any considerable area were not natural beds 

 within the meaning of the law. A legal decision (by 

 Judge Goldsborough, of Maryland,) defines a natural bed 

 as one not made by man, and of sufficient area to have 

 been profitably worked by the general public, as common 

 property, within some recent period of time. This deci- 

 sion has been practically adopted by the shell-fish Com- 

 mission of Connecticut in defining the natural beds of that 

 State, and their course has been approved by legislative 

 enactment. Useful as a guide, however, it would not be 

 proper to be strictly governed by the Goldsborough 

 decision in defining the natural beds of North Carolina. 

 In North Carolina the ovster industry is yet in its 



J J J 



infancy. The population is too sparse, and the present 

 demand too slight, to have caused any continuous fishery 

 or even any general knowledge of the positions or areas of 

 the natural beds. Mere testimony as to previous fishery 

 or non-fishery would not, therefore, in all places, be con- 



