THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



as do they in Maryland and Virginia, her oyster fisheries would 

 have been a practical failure, as they threaten to be in the Chesa- 

 peake, unless there is speedy and judicious State legislation. 



As a matter of fact, the present condition of affairs in the 

 Chesapeake points ominously to a not far distant appeal from the 

 fishermen of that region to the General Government to assist 

 them in rehabilitating their oyster grounds. Such a contingency 

 is at all times best avoided ; but in this case I have shown, by 

 comparison, that all that is needed in the Chesapeake region, to 

 insure a renewed prosperity of the oyster fishery, is judicious 

 State legislation in the direction of conveying proprietary rights 

 to individuals or companies for the purpose of planting and culti- 

 vating the oyster. This plan has already been attempted in the 

 Chesapeake, but has so far been successfully resisted by the fish- 

 ermen. The prosperity of the Connecticut fisheries is entirely 

 owing to the State enactments conferring proprietary rights ; and 

 there can not be a doubt but that similar legislation in Maryland 

 and Virginia would bring about a return of prosperity to the 

 Chesapeake oyster fisheries. 



The usual method employed in Connecticut for the collection 

 of spat is to first clean the ground by dredging and then cover it 

 with shells, to which the spat will adhere, nearly 7,500.000 bushels 

 of shells being used for this purpose during the past five years. 

 " It is estimated that twenty-five or thirty adult oysters produce 

 enough eggs each season to equal the annual product of Connecti- 

 cut waters." So that, were it not for the starfish and other ene- 

 mies which infest this coast, the supplies of food oysters would out- 

 rival in quantity the hundreds of thousands of acres covered by 

 the now useless "raccoons" of South Carolina. No judicious ex- 

 pense is spared to make the oyster beds of Connecticut prolific : 

 if they are too muddy, as are those of South Carolina, they are 

 easily " made," by placing one hundred to two hundred tons of 

 gravel over each acre, and the report of the commissioner states 

 that " this system has produced excellent results." 



Of course, there are other oyster grounds on the Atlantic coast 

 besides those which I have mentioned notably the famous 

 Shrewsbury River beds; but they are not so extensive, nor do 

 they so particularly affect the question, by comparison, of the ad- 

 visability of adopting artificial propagation. And now, having 

 briefly explained the conditions of our oyster grounds, we are 

 brought face to face with the statement which prefaces this arti- 

 cle, namely : " As the scarcity of seed is one of the greatest diffi- 

 culties now encountered by the oyster planter," would the propa- 

 gation of spat by artificial means profitably assist in rehabilitat- 

 ing our depleted grounds ? 



As I have already mentioned, Mr. Blackford not only thinks 



