THE OYSTER. 165 



seen to be less than three per cent of their possible 

 value. 



An abstract statement in figures is always open to 

 distrust, and in order to guard against any impression 

 that the value stated above for our oyster-grounds is 

 imaginary, we wish to call attention here to results 

 which have been actually realized. 



In 1888, Mr. Fred. A. Gunby, formerly a resident 

 of Crisfield, Maryland, obtained from the State of Vir- 

 ginia a right to cultivate oysters on about sixty-eight 

 acres of bottom in Accomac County, Virginia. The 

 tract lay in Tangier Sound, near the Maryland line, 

 and opposite that part of Smith's Island which is in 

 Virginia, lying just south of Horse Hammock. He 

 planted that year 28,000 bushels of oyster shells, at a 

 cost of $1200. Since that time he has employed a 

 watchman to keep off intruders, at a cost of about 

 $3000. In April, 1890, it was estimated that there 

 were 30,000 bushels of oysters on his beds. The 

 shells were found full of young oysters, which were 

 growing rapidly. In December, 1890, it was calculated 

 that there were 350,000 bushels of oysters on the 

 ground, worth at least thirty or forty cents a bushel in 

 the market. 



He was not permitted to gather the harvest which 

 he had sown, but his experience shows the rich return 

 which would be yielded by this sort of oyster-farming 

 if private rights could be respected; and it rests with 

 the people of Maryland to decide whether our re- 

 sources shall be developed. Until we determine to 



