THE OYSTER. 



141 



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 in- 

 dustry to the growth of a sentiment of respect for pri- 

 vate property in oysters, like the sentiment in favor of 

 private agriculture on land. As soon as the community 

 demands the enforcement of the laws, and juries con- 

 vict 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 

 respect for private property in oysters? This is the 

 question which should occupy the best thought of those 

 statesmen who are sincerely devoted to the welfare of 

 the community, but it is not one which can be answered 

 by those politicians whose only interest in the sentiment 

 of the public centers in the use which they can make of 

 it for their own private ends. 



As soon as the planter has become assured that he 

 will be permitted to enjoy the fruits of his industry, 

 the demand for bottoms to be used as planting grounds 

 will arise naturally, and it should be met by more 

 adequate legislative provisions than our present five- 

 acre law. Riparian owners should receive from the 



