206 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



to $50 and the confiscation of the boat. No prosecution, however, can 

 be undertaken without a special order from a justice of the peace, given 

 upon the affirmation, under oath, of a resident of the State. The county 

 sheriff, the constable, and civil and military officers are expected to 

 assist in the execution of these laws. 



Virginia. — Fishing for oysters in waters belonging to this State 

 during the months of June, July, and August is prohibited under a fine 

 of $50. 



On the shores of rivers and in bays the only instrument allowed by 

 law is the tongs, excepting always localities where the water is deep. 

 In the sounds of Tangier and Pocomoke, for instance, the use of the 

 drag is permitted, but never in the mouths of rivers, in the interior of 

 the bays, or where the water is less than twenty feet in depth. 



The legislature of Virginia, in order still better to protect an industry 

 which is a great source of wealth to the State, passed a law in 1856 by 

 which each county, when it is considered necessary, can appoint inspect- 

 ors, whose duty it is to arrest persons and boats suspected of having 

 violated the laws. These inspectors are sworn into office, and receive 

 the half of the fines imposed upon the delinquents whom they bring to 

 justice. With a very few exceptions, which are mentioned in the laws, 

 the taking of oysters from the banks for enriching the soil, or for the 

 manufacture of lime, is punished with a fine of $500. 



CULTURE OF OYSTERS. 



The methods adopted by the Americans for the culture, or rather for 

 the improvement, of oysters obtained from the coast fisheries are in no 

 respect similar to the complicated and expensive processes in operation 

 at Marennes, Ostend, Courcelles, or other such localities where these 

 moilusks are reared. The "pen," in the exact sense of the word as we 

 use it in France, is unknown in the United States ; for the ponds or 

 reservoirs for oysters, formed in certain places by closing the mouths of 

 small creeks, with sluice-dams, can hardly be so called. Establish- 

 ments of this kind are, moreover, very rare, and I had not an oppor- 

 tunity of visiting one. 



American ostriculture, more simple than ours in all its details, con- 

 sists in planting the moilusks on those parts of the coast where the sub- 

 marine soil is best fitted by its nature to fatten them and promote their 

 growth. The process is very much the same as that adopted at Saint 

 Waast and Oancale ; and in the United States the results are so satis- 

 factory that it would be worse than useless to have recourse to more 

 complicated methods, which, without increasing the profit, would add 

 greatly to the expense. 



The success of this branch of the oyster industry depends upon the 

 hydrographical configuration of the locality chosen for planting the 

 oysters, upon the nature of the submarine soil, and upon the saltness 

 of the water. 



