J. PISCICULTURE AND THE FISHERIES. 433 



ficial to the fisheries instead of injurious, as maintained also 

 by Mr. Davidson, the commissioner of Maryland. The close 

 season, as suggested, should be the 15th of May till the 1st 

 of October. Newspaper Abstract. 



REPORT OF MARYLAND COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



The report of Mr. Hunter Davidson, commissioner of the 

 fishing force of the State of Maryland, has just been pub- 

 lished, and contains much important information, and many 

 valuable suggestions in regard to the fisheries of the state. 

 Mr. Davidson's duties are more especially in connection with 

 the oyster fisheries, and in his report he discusses the com- 

 parative advantages and results of dredging oysters and of 

 taking them with tongs. As to dredging, he advises very 

 earnestly that this be confined to those months of the year 

 when the oysters are not spawning, and that only dredges of 

 a certain size and weight shall be used. He also insists that 

 the dredgers shall be required to cull the oysters while at 

 the beds, and throw back all oysters under a certain size and 

 all separate shells, and at the same time to destroy the star- 

 fishes and other noxious animals taken that prey upon the 

 oysters. He thinks only half of the dredging grounds of the 

 state should be disturbed in each year, which, taking the 

 close time into consideration, would give a period of rest of 

 about seventeen months. These regulations, he thinks, will 

 preserve the beds, and greatly increase the value of their 

 product*. 



He considers the actual operation of dredging itself, when 

 not carried to excess, to be as important to the interest of 

 the business as plowing and harrowing are to the cultivation 

 of the soil, as preventing the oysters from accumulating un- 

 duly in particular localities and forming oyster rocks. These, 

 he states, occur in the James River, like immense cones, fre- 

 quently rising to the surface from a depth of from ten to sixty 

 feet. Report for 1 8 V 1 . 



OYSTER TRADE OF BALTIMORE. 



An account of the oyster trade of Baltimore, as published 

 in the New York Journal of Commerce, has been sent to Mr. 

 Frank Buckland, the eminent pisciculturist, who republishes 

 the article in his journal, Land and Water, and takes occasion 



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