142 THE OYSTER. 



hardship to a very great body of our citizens, and if 

 oystering upon the public beds is permitted at all, I do 

 not believe that any legislative interference with the 

 methods which are to be employed would be wise. It 

 is to the interest of the public that the oysters shall be 

 taken as economically as possible, and the most effec- 

 tive implement for the purpose is the best one. The 

 only way in which public beds can be preserved from 

 ruin is by the restriction of the crop from each bed to 

 the amount which it is found, by periodical examina- 

 tion by an expert, to be capable of yielding without 

 injury, but the most effective way of gathering this 

 crop is the best way. 



If after examination any natural bed is found to be 

 so much exhausted that it is no longer fit to yield a 

 supply of marketable oysters, it should be closed com- 

 pletely to all fishermen, or else thrown open to all 

 licensed fishermen for a short time in the summer, to 

 furnish seed oysters for planting ; and the oyster 

 planters must look for protection in their industry to 

 the growth of a sentiment of respect for private prop- 

 erty in oysters, like the sentiment in favor of private 

 agriculture on land. As soon as the community de- 

 mands the enforcement of the laws, and juries convict 

 and punish depredators as if they had trespassed on 

 private land above water, all the difficulties will disap- 

 pear, and I do not believe that there is any other 

 remedy. 



The question to be considered then is this : How 

 can the people of the State be brought to perceive that 

 private enterprise in oyster culture is to their advan- 

 tage, and what can be done to develop a sentiment of 



