4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



height. This crowding together prevents individual develop- 

 ment, and consequently millions upon millions of oysters are lost 

 to the people of this country in this one State alone. That the 

 " planting " of " raccoon " seed in the deeper waters for cultiva- 

 tion would be profitless is shown by the natural growth of the 

 oysters themselves in the marginal waters. They would soon 

 become asphyxiated in the soft, silting mud bottom which occurs 

 along the entire coast line of this State. But it has been demon- 

 strated that, under almost as unfavorable conditions, excellent 

 and healthy grounds could be prepared at comparatively slight 

 cost, as has been so successfully done in Connecticut ; and Mr. 

 Dean shows conclusively that the " raccoons " might be scattered 

 in "marginal waters about a fathom in depth/' with an almost 

 certain prospect of successful development. Curiously enough, 

 in his article on the Biology of the Oyster Grounds of South 

 Carolina, he advocates the artificial collection and rearing of spat. 



There are miles upon miles of these "raccoon" ledges, and 

 even islands which have been formed by the "raccoons," upon 

 this part of the coast ; they contain enough seedlings to stock the 

 entire Atlantic coast, and a very little enterprise or judicious 

 State interference would undoubtedly restore to South Carolina 

 and the oyster-consuming population of the United States what 

 must have been in ages past one of the most prolific natural 

 oyster beds of the world. 



The conditions in Chesapeake Bay are much more favorable 

 than those which we have just considered. Here Nature has 

 created, as Captain Collins has truly said, the most perfect oyster 

 ground in the universe. But, as is the case with the prosecution 

 of many other fisheries, man either in his greed or ignorance, 

 or both has outraged a bountiful Nature by continuously fishing 

 for the oysters without replanting, and as a consequence this 

 remarkable oyster region is becoming rapidly less important. 



In his report, Captain Collins accounts for the recklessness of 

 the fishermen and oystermen in this way : " The general belief (in 

 the Chesapeake Bay region) has been, that the natural wealth of 

 the oyster beds is inexhaustible," and that, " trained from child- 

 hood to look upon the oyster grounds as their patrimony, ... it 

 is perhaps not remarkable that the fishermen of the Chesapeake 

 have bitterly, and to this time successfully, opposed all attempts 

 at legislation intended to convey proprietary rights in the 

 grounds." 



Illustrating their reliance upon Nature, the report just re- 

 ferred to quotes the following paragraph from a local publica- 

 tion : " The value of the oyster business alone to southeast Vir- 

 ginia is nearly $2,500,000 per annum. It is a crop constantly 

 harvested, except in the months of May to August inclusive, and 



