212 THE OYSTER. 



others become long and thin. The dredge breaks up 

 and scatters these bunches, and gives the oysters room 

 to grow and to become valuable; and by scattering 

 the shells, dredging causes an increase in the area of 

 the natural bed. 



It is asserted that the heavy dredges crush and kill 

 the young oysters, and drag them into the mud and 

 smother them, but the private farmers of Connecticut 

 find it to their advantage to drag over their farms, by 

 the aid of steam, dredges very much larger than any 

 which are used in Maryland. They use these heavy 

 dredges in the summer when the young oysters are 

 very small and fragile, as well as in the winter, yet 

 their farms are improved by this treatment. 



It is undoubtedly true that little oysters are some- 

 times broken and killed by the dredge, but the de- 

 struction of oysters in this way is so slight as to have 

 no significance. I have paid especial attention to the 

 matter while dredging for oysters, and the number 

 broken or injured by the dredge is surprisingly small. 

 Young oysters fasten themselves flat upon the surface 

 of attachment, and they do not begin to grow up and 

 to become erect until they are large enough to crowd 

 each other, and by this time they are large enough to 

 withstand the dredge without injury. 



After most careful examination of the subject I am 

 convinced that there is no objection to dredging which 

 does not apply with equal force to all other methods 

 of oystering, and the interest of the community de- 



