124 THE OYSTER. 



to those afforded by the bay, and there is no other 

 place where these advantages are presented on such a 

 great area of bottom. Our oyster grounds, of course, 

 vary in value, according to local conditions, and oyster 

 culture is much more easy and profitable in some 

 places than in others; but in course of time even the 

 soft, muddy bottoms of the deepest channels may be 

 brought under cultivation, and there is scarcely a 

 foot of the bottom where oysters cannot be reared. 

 The number of oysters which the bay might be made 

 to furnish annually is almost too great for computa- 

 tion, but we may very safely assert that it is greater 

 than the total number which have been taken from our 

 waters in the past. 



All that is needed in order to make this great 

 source of wealth available to our people, is permission 

 to engage in oyster culture. When the citizens of 

 Maryland demand the right to enter into this industry, 

 and to reclaim their property which is now going to 

 waste, a new era of prosperity will be introduced, and 

 the oyster area will be developed with great rapidity. 



I have shown that upon undredged natural beds 

 solid substances become so thickly covered with young 

 oysters that they have no room to grow, so that most 

 of them are soon crowded out and killed. 



All localities are not equally favorable for the col- 

 lection of spat, and in the best places the amount 

 which can be collected each season is very much 

 greater than the amount which it needed for stocking 

 the bottom. This excess can be profitably used as 

 " seed " for stocking bottoms in shallow, landlocked 

 bays, rivers, and other places which are less fitted for 



