THE OYSTER. yi 



protection and development of our own beds, but our 

 people have been too confident of the inexhaustible 

 vitality of our own beds to heed the warning. So 

 long as the consumption of oysters was restricted to 

 regions in the immediate vicinity of the bay, the 

 number of oysters which could be taken from each 

 bed and put upon the market each season was so 

 small that it could be furnished without taxing the beds, 

 but more than ten years ago, November, 1879, ^ called 

 attention to the fact that the perfection of our facilities 

 for packing and transporting oysters had produced such 

 a great demand, that the danger of destroying our best 

 beds was growing greater every day, and was keeping 

 pace with the growth of our population and the 

 improvements in transportation, and I called the 

 attention of those who believe that the supply is suffi- 

 cient for all demands, to the history of other countries. 



No one who is familiar with the history of the oyster- 

 beds of other parts of the world can be surprised at the 

 deterioration of our own beds. Everywhere, in France, 

 in Germany, in England, in Canada, and in all northern 

 coast states, history tells the same story. In all waters 

 where oysters are found at all they are usually found 

 in abundance, and in all of these places the residents 

 supposed that their natural beds were inexhaustible 

 until they suddenly found that they were exhausted. 

 The immense area covered by our own beds has en- 

 abled them to withstand the attacks of the oystermen 

 for a much longer time, but all who are familiar with 

 the subject have long been aware that our present sys- 

 tem can have only one result — extermination. 



An estimation of the effect of excessive fishing may 



