THE OYSTER-INDUSTRY. 79 



The Milford oyster- steamek. — Ilaviug thus got assurance of a profitable farm, for storms no longer seemed 

 able to affect him, Mr. ]Merwin saw that he needed more rapid and sure means of harvesting his crop than the row- 

 boats and skiffs afforded. He therefore employed the firm of Lockwood & Co., of Norwalk, to build him a steamer 

 for the expi'ess purpose of dredging, and introduced the proper machinerj' for that work. With this steamer, which 

 is, to a large degree, independent of wind and weatlier, he can do three times the amount of work possible for the 

 same number of dredges worked without steam (500 bushels is not an uncommon day's result with two dredges), 

 and do it best on the "dull" days, when it is too calm for his neighbors' sloops to work. Its owners often find 

 profitable employment for their leisure in chartering the steamer to other oystermen, who desire aid in dredging or 

 in raking off the starfish that infest some beds. One single instance of the advantage the use of steam was to this 

 firm will be pardoned. In the spring of 1879 a Ehode Island planter sent a sloop, capable of carrying 1,500 bushels, 

 to Ifew Haven to buy small seed. The Merwins were invited to contribute to the cargo, the captain of the sloop 

 buying on the principle of "first come, first served", until he had filled up, haste being the great desideratum. It 

 happened, that upon tlie very day the sloop arrived a dead calm fell, and not a sloop from Fair Haven or Oyster 

 jtoint could haul a dredge. Meanwhile Mr. Merwiu's steamer was puffing back and forth through the quiet sea, 

 without an hour's cessation, and in two days placed 1,200 bushels of seed upon the sloop's decks. 



Local opposition to otstee-culture. — There are two rivers which come down to the sea at ]\Iilford, the 

 pleasant Wepawaug, along whose banks the town lies, and whose upper waters turn numerous mills; and Indian 

 river, which empties into the harbor close by the mouth of the former stream. Indian river debouches in an estuary 

 called the Gulf, or Gulf pond. Except in one little si)Ot no oysters grow now, or ever did grow, in this inclosed 

 salt-water pond, although it would be the best possible place to cultivate them. But the popular feeling of the 

 town is so strongly against the utilization of these advantages by private effort, that no ground is permitted to be 

 set off', and any oysters put down there are liable to be seized as public plunder. Once, indeed, the oyster-committee 

 assigned to Mr. Merwin a tract in the gulf; but as soon as it was found out, an indignation meeting was held and 

 mob law was loudly threatened. Cooler judgment overruled that, but any cultivation of this valuable ground, 

 otherwise wholly useless, was sternly interdicted. 



Present state of oyster-culture at Milford. — Inspired by Mr. Merwin's success and pluck, various 

 persons have taken up ground in the vicinity of his tract oft' Pond point, amounting in the aggregate to about 750 

 acres, divided among eight owners. One of these gentlemen, in addition to 100 acres h'>re, has several smaller tracts 

 at difl'erent points along the shore to the westward ; in all, about 400 acres, upon which some thousands of bushels 

 of young oysters are growing. There is plenty of good bottom still remaining off this shore, however. 



32. METHODS OF CATCH AND DISPOSAL. 



How ground is obtained. — The mode of obtaining ground under the new law of 1881, says a correspondent 

 of the iVcH? Yurie Sioi, will be as follows: The person desiring ground must make application in the prescribed form 

 of a blank, legally approved by the chief justice of the state, setting forth the quantity of ground he wishes, 

 prescribing exactly where it is, and showing that it is not and has not been within ten years a natural oyster, clam, 

 or mnssle bed. A notice, which includes an exact copy of that application, is sent to the town clerk of the town 

 opposite which the ground asked for lies, and nuist be posted in a conspicuous place in his office for twenty days, in 

 which time objectors to the grant, if there are any, must file their objections with the town clerk. If no objections 

 appear, the commissioners are authorized to give the ajiplicant a deed of the ground, upon his paying the state 81 

 per acre therefor and the expense of surveying and mapping the lot, which is covered by a charge of ten cents per 

 acre. If any objections are filed with the town clerk they must be returned with the application to the state fish 

 commissioners, who will institute an investigation and decide the case as seems to them just and lawful. The 

 grounds for objections are, either that the grounds applied for are natural beds, or that some person claims ownership 

 by virtue of umny years' possession and enjoyment, or under a deed from the town. Fifteen years' possession is 

 held to confer rights of ownership. In the matter of forbidding the designation to private individuals of natural 

 shellfish beds, the law is especially severe, prescribing that the commissioner who knowingly does such a thing 

 shall be subject to a fine of not less than §100 nor more than S500, and that the person illegally obtaining such 

 natiual beds knowingly shall lose his designation and forfeit all he has paid for it. Provision is made for theretiuMi 

 of a purchaser's money in case his designated ground proves to be unfit for the cultivation of shellfish, and to 

 IH'event speculators from getting possession of ground and holding it indefinitely for a rise in value instead of for 

 honest work, there is a clause compelling the cultivation of ground within five years from its allotment. A clause iu 

 the bill prescribes that ]io person can hold ground taken from the state, or from a grantee of the state, unless he has 

 been a resident of tlie state for one year jirior to his entering upon such jjossession. This clause the commission 

 will probably ask the legislature to strike out. Xot only is its narrow proscription an ott'ensive featui'c, but conditions 

 are easily conceived in which it would work great injury to persons desirous of retiriug from business, and to heirs, 

 beside shutting out much desirable capital. The law provides for the plain marking out of designated grounds bj' 

 the grantees by permanent "stakes, buojs, ranges, or monuments", so that hereafter, or, rather, after operations are 

 fully commenced under this law and commission, there need be no more confusions of jiroperty rights to ground 

 under water than respecting real estate high aud dry on a hill. 



