THE OYSTER. 197 



there still, and although they are still abundant at some 

 points on the much colder coast of New Brunswick, 

 and although we have the minute accounts which the 

 early settlers have given us of the gradual destruction 

 of their oysters as the population increased. 



We can hardly be surprised that our people should 

 exhibit total ignorance of the true cause of the de- 

 struction, when we recollect that there is not a single 

 word in any of the laws of Maryland which indicates 

 that our legislators are aware that the supply of oysters 

 can be artificially increased, or that there is need for 

 any such increase. 



The contrast between the views upon the oyster 

 question which are now prevalent among our people, 

 and those which come from a broad-minded considera- 

 tion of the question in all its relations, can be illus- 

 trated by an example. The uncivilized Indians are 

 able to supply all their wants from the natural re- 

 sources of their hunting-grounds, but as population 

 increases, food grows scarcer and hard to procure, and 

 it soon becomes evident that the natural supply is not 

 enough. The first impulse, in such an emergency, 

 is to restrict the demand, by driving away or starving 

 out the superfluous population; and if savage tribes 

 were able to enact and enforce laws, they would no 

 doubt try to preserve their game by laws restricting 

 the quantity to be killed, or by laws forbidding the use 

 of improved appliances for capturing it. 



Civilized races have long recognized the fact that 

 the true remedy is not to limit the demand, but rather 



