THE OYSTER, 1 83 



a longer time, we cannot hope that laws to shorten the 

 season will, in themselves, effect any great improve- 

 ment in the condition of the beds. 



Ingersoll gives a very vivid description of the 

 method of fishing in early days, upon one of the 

 natural beds of Connecticut, and as this bed was finally 

 exterminated by little more than one day's fishing in 

 each year, we quote his account in order to show how 

 little protection a closed season can afford. 



Ingersoll says : " The law was * off' on the ist day 

 of November, and all the natural beds of the State 

 became open to any person who wished to rake them. 

 In anticipation of the date, great preparations were 

 made in the towns along the shore and even for twenty 

 miles back from the seaside. Boats and rakes and 

 baskets and bags were put in order. The day before, 

 large numbers of wagons came toward the shore from 

 the back country, bringing hundreds of men with their 

 utensils. Among these were not unfrequently seen 

 boats, borne in the rigging of a hay-cart, ready to- be 

 launched on the expected morning. It was a time of 

 great excitement, and nowhere greater than along the 

 Quinepiac. On the day preceding, farmers flocked 

 into Fair Haven from all the surrounding country, and 

 brought with them boats and canoes, of antique pat- 

 tern and ruinous aspect. These rustics always met 

 with a riotous welcome from the town-boys, who hated' 

 rural competition. They were very likely to find their 

 boats, if not carefully watched, stolen and hidden 

 before they had a chance to launch them, or even tem- 

 porarily disabled. These things diversified the day 

 and enlivened a community usually very peaceful, if 



