48 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN MATAGORDA BAY. 



as has been encountered in some other states, and every effort should 

 be made to discount such opposition by opening avenues for obtaining 

 redress for persons aggrieved or supposing themselves to be ag- 

 grieved. For that reason the changes of law suggested above are 

 earnestly advised. 



That the men who earn their living on the natural beds have noth- 

 ing to fear and much to gain from the development of oyster culture 

 is shown by the facts in every state in which the industry has been 

 established. Many former oystermen in northern states by taking 

 advantage of their opportunities have become prosperous oyster 

 planters, with an assured business taking the place of their previous 

 precarious calling. Even where, for want of enterprise or for reasons 

 beyond their control, they have allowed the opportunity for independ- 

 ence to pass neglected, they are able to find steady employment on the 

 planted beds in lieu of the uncertainty of labor on semiexhausted 

 natural beds ; and finally, for those having neither the desire nor the 

 means to engage in planting for themselves, nor the inclination to 

 enter the service of others, extensive oyster planting tends to assure the 

 recuperation and perpetuation of the natural beds by creating a safety 

 valve which relieves the pressure on the latter whenever their pro- 

 ductiveness is reduced to a state imperiling their existence. There 

 may be cited at least one instance where a large productive oyster 

 field was absolutely and permanently depleted and ruined by private 

 greed and the supposed necessities of business, a state of affairs that 

 could never have been encompassed had there been extensive planted 

 beds in the vicinity to keep up the supply of spat when the natural 

 spawners were carried away. 



PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF OYSTER GROWTH. 



BOTTOMS AND DEPTHS. 



In any region naturally producing oysters the matter of the char- 

 acter of the bottom is usually that receiving first consideration when 

 the question of oyster culture is taken up. Other conditions — food 

 and density, for instance — are generally, though not always, more 

 uniform over considerable areas, and the fact that oysters of good 

 quality are produced on neighboring natural beds is in general 

 sufficient guaranty that these conditions are favorable. The bot- 

 tom, however, may exhibit marked diversity of characteristics within 

 comparatively narrow boundaries. 



The mere fact that oysters grow on one area but not on another 

 adjoining it does not indicate that the two presented any original 

 differences of moment. Pure accident may determine that one 

 shall become productive while the other remains barren. For in- 

 stance, there is a small oyster lump off Crab Bayou, the position of 



