Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners. 49 



covers small as well as larger stock, and it is stated that they have a 

 decided preference for the stock grown on the Lumps on account of 

 the plumpness of these oysters and their peculiar ability to retain 

 their plumpness after having passed through the canning processes. 



PUBLIC ATTITUDE TOWARD VIOLATIONS OF THE CULL LAW. 



Coupling this demand of the packers for the stock on the Lumps, 

 with the belief that all oysters which may be left on these grounds 

 at the end of the oytering season will almost surely be killed by the 

 Spring freshets and thus entirely lost to the trade, and also with 

 the further idea that none of the oysters will be gathered unless the 

 dredgers are assured that violations of the Cull Law will be winked 

 at or at least that the law will be very leniently enforced; in view of 

 these reports and beliefs, there is a growing willingness on the part 

 of the public to look with favor upon the nonenforcement of the 

 Cull Law, as far as the oysters taken from the Lumps are concerned, 

 in order that the greatest possible quantity of these oysters may be 

 saved to the trade before the end of the oystering season. As evi- 

 dence of this attitude we have only to recall the apparent unconcern 

 with which the frequent reports of wholesale violations of the Cull 

 Law on the Lumps and of an extensive traffic in unculled oysters 

 from the Lumps, have been received. 



The desire of the public that these oysters should not be lost is 

 a commendable one, but is it not possible that the public is somewhat 

 misinformed both as to the conditions which prevail on the Lumps 

 and also as to the possibility of restricting the traffic in unculled 

 oysters to the stock from the Lumps? Is it not possible that the 

 reports which have been given out as to the area covered by the 

 oyster-producing grounds in the upper part of the bay and as to the 

 quantity of small oysters annually produced on these grounds, have 

 been greatly exaggerated purposely in order to create a sentiment in 

 favor of a lax enforcement of the Cull Law for these oysters, under 

 the cover of which cargoes of unculled oysters from the natural 

 bars in other sections of the bay and tributaries might be success- 

 fully marketed. 



THE CASE AS DEVELOPED BY THE SURVEY. 



The results of the survey of the oyster grounds in question show 

 that the area covered by the Lumps is not nearly so extensive as has 



