SCO RKPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



part of the bay most available for the present system of laying out 

 oysters, and the managers of the Morgan Oyster Company informed 

 me that they owned about all that they ctonsidered valnable for their 

 method of growing oysters. Many consider the sale of the tide lands 

 an injustice to the j)eoi)le. It is said that the railroad companies are 

 l)roi)rietors in tide hinds to such an extent that the city of Oakland is 

 greatly handicsipped for water frontage and wharf facilities. 



The law permitting the sale of the tide lands is not, however, an 

 unmixed evil, for while it might lead to monopoly it would allow oyster- 

 planters to reap the harvests they sow. It is now conceded by many 

 who have long upheld the system of i)ublic dredging in the Chesapeake 

 region, that private cultivation must be provided for before there can 

 be any marked ima^ease in the oyster snpjdy. 



The Tide Land and Water Front Comi)an3^ of San Francisco areiiro- 

 prietors of the tide lauds to a considerable extent, and ofl'er them for 

 sale at the uniform price of $25 per acre. Notwithstanding the ftict 

 that much desirable oyster-bedding ground is already fenced in, there 

 is still much good oyster-ground unoccupied in the southern part of 

 the bay. In the Long Island Sound region, where the oyster-ground 

 can be bought or leased from the States, the system of private owner- 

 shi}) of the beds has been found perfectly practicable and very advanta- 

 geous. 



In reply to inquiries respecting the value of the tide lands now in- 

 closed and used by the oyster-growers of San Francisco, Mr. Moraghan 

 writes me: 



The price cle])onil3 upon the location, the kind of bottom, whether mud, shell, or 

 sand, etc., and more than all, nj»on the im]»rovement or amount of labor bestowed 

 on the land. Wo have some beds that are worth fully $1,000 per acre to us, as we 

 have been imjiroving and workiu}^^ upon them for the past ten years in bringing 

 them to tlieir present condition. 



Mr. Moraghan adds that unimproved tide land, such as is used in 

 the Californiau niethod of l)edding oysters, is very cheap, being worth 

 $10 per acre, and that such lands can be had adjacent to the best 

 inclosed beds lor $20 per acre. 



t^ugifcMed introduction of other species of oysters. — With evidence at 

 hand of the ])ro])agatiou of our own oyster {0. viroiKica) in California, 

 the iiitioduction of foreign si)ecies seems superfluous; but Prof. George 

 Davidson and Mr. H. IJ. Dunn, of San Francisco, both of whom have 

 resided in flapan, have frequently spoken to me of the large oyster of 

 .lajian in connection with the sul)ject of oyster growing in California. 

 Prof. Davidson sends the following note on this subject: 



The oyster 1 knew in .Japan was found in the vicinity of Nag.asaki, where I was 

 stationed duriiii; tlie three months 0(!tober, November, and December, 1X71, and 

 ])art of .January, 187."). The oyster is there very large, full, and well Havored. I 

 obtained some slielis tliat were fully 12 inches long. I tried to interest some of our 

 8teamslii|) caplains to liring tiieni to San Francisco, but at that time the trip fre- 

 quently consumed a full month, wltli a change of steamer at Yokohama, and they 



