194 Our Food Mollusks 



That such a survey is a necessity does not yet seem to 

 be realized by some of the southern states. Without it 

 an incontestible title is impossible, and in Connecticut 

 it has put an end to a most fertile source of discontent 

 and strife that arises everywhere when the sale or lease 

 of bottoms is in question. There has been in every state 

 a strong demand that the natural beds be reserved as 

 public property. But what is a natural bed? The an- 

 swer is clear when natural oysters lie thickly massed, 

 but there are few such tracts. Such areas, once existing, 

 have been tonged and dredged until oysters are few and 

 scattered. Are they still natural beds ? 



The definition of a Maryland judge has been accepted 

 everywhere on the coast. According to this, a natural 

 bed is a bottom on which oysters propagating by nature 

 are numerous enough to afford a living wage to the oys- 

 terman. This is arbitrary and indefinite, but it cannot 

 be bettered. Its acceptance does not settle specific cases, 

 for it does not and cannot determine what constitutes a 

 living wage. The public is determined to retain its 

 " rights " to natural beds, and culturists desire to buy or 

 lease the bottoms. Who shall decide between them? 



In this matter the legislature of Connecticut did a 

 very wise thing. It provided its Oyster Commission 

 with a survey of the bottoms, and gave it power to de- 

 cide, after a careful examination, what bottoms con- 

 tained natural oysters sufficient for a daily wage, and 

 what did not. This they did fairly, but of necessity, 

 quite arbitrarily, defining and charting the outlines of all 

 the natural beds in the state. They then proceeded to 

 sell and lease the remainder. When their boundaries 

 were contested, the State Supreme Court upheld them. 

 That was the end of the matter. 



