The Chesapeake 215 



natural resources of the sound in short order. Oysters 

 dredged there were all taken to the packing houses in 

 Baltimore, where they were shucked, sold, and 

 counted in the fragmentary records of the business as 

 Chesapeake oysters. Thus the prophecy of the commis- 

 sion of 1882 was fulfilled. Its report was not merely a 

 warning. It showed the decline in the great industry to 

 be unnecessary. It explained the simple course to be 

 pursued that would increase the production of oysters to 

 a vast extent ; and there is even more reason to-day than 

 there was in 1884 for the belief that every prediction of 

 vast success and fortune contained in it might by this 

 time have been realized by the state of Maryland had 

 it chosen to develop a thorough-going system of oyster 

 culture. 



The history of the industry in Virginia's part of the 

 bay is not so depressing. Much of the bottom is shal- 

 low, and is worked by tongers. In 1879 dredging on 

 natural oyster rocks was prohibited, though allowed on 

 private grounds. But in spite of the fact that only tongs 

 were employed, the natural beds rapidly became depleted. 

 At this time planting was allowed by the state, but few 

 availed themselves of the privilege. Naturally, planting 

 could not well flourish when there was great doubt as to 

 the limits of natural rocks as distinguished from barren 

 bottoms. Planting had also been allowed in Maryland 

 for many years, but very few had dared to invest labor 

 and money in it. 



In 1892 a survey of the natural oyster beds was made 

 in Virginia. These were staked out, and though their 

 boundary marks have long since disappeared, the good 

 effects of that designation have been felt ever since. If 

 a triangulation survey of the barren bottoms had been 



