THE OYSTER. I4I 



difficulty in keeping them under control as soon as 

 public sentiment is in favor of so doing. 



The restraint of the dredgers within lawful bounds 

 is a more difficult matter, and if dredging on the public 

 beds is to be permitted at all, I do not see how planted 

 oysters can be protected in any way, except by the 

 formation of a public sentiment in favor of private 

 cultivation. The difficulty is so great that many 

 thoughtful persons believe that dredging should be 

 prohibited, but after much careful examination of the 

 subject I am not convinced of the propriety of this 

 measure. If the natural beds are to be retained by 

 the State, and licenses to gather oysters upon them are 

 to be issued by the State, the dredge is the proper in- 

 strument to use for the purpose, and the prohibition 

 of dredging would be a step backward. 



Any bed which can be reached by tongmen may be 

 ruined by unrestricted tonging just as surely as by 

 dredging, and the statement that the small oysters are 

 destroyed by the dredge is not supported by my own 

 observation, while the claim of the dredgers that the 

 area of the natural beds has been enlarged by dredg- 

 ing is strictly true. The natural beds have been over- 

 taxed, and they are in great danger of total ruin, but 

 no particular set of oystermen are to blame for this. 

 Most of the oysters have been taken by dredges, be- 

 cause the dredge is the most efficient instrument for 

 the purpose, but the exhaustion of our beds is the 

 result of our bad system and the absence of all effort 

 to increase our supply by artificial culture. It is not 

 due to any particular way of catching oysters. 



The prohibition of dredging would result in great 



