282 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



that when they fail it is due to starfish or drills or inud or any one of a dozen other 

 factors, rather than to improvident management. It must be remembered that but a 

 modicum of these eggs reach maturity, else our bays and estuaries would long ere this 

 have been converted into beds of limestone. Broadly speaking, nature provides for 

 the perpetuation of her species either by means of a few eggs well protected, or many 

 eggs left, as it were, to chance. To the biologist the simple fact that the oyster is so 

 prodigiously prolific is ample indication that its existence from the egg is a precarious 

 one. Its life is a constant passive struggle with physical conditions, its enemies, and 

 its brethren, and fortunate indeed is the oyster region where, of every million eggs 

 produced, one reaches marketable dimensions. 



An important, in fact an essential, element in the oyster's salvation is the presence 

 of a solid body to which to affix itself when it is ready to settle down at the conclu- 

 sion of its free-swimming condition. It is then so exceedingly minute that a film of 

 mud not thicker than a sheet of paper is sufficient to stifle it. It will attach itself to 

 almost anything fairly free from sediment, but on the oyster-beds such objects are 

 almost exclusively living oysters or dead shells. A depleted bed differs from a 

 vigorous one in two particulars: In the scarcity and scattered distribution of spawning 

 individuals, and, perhaps more disastrously, in the paucity of suitable places of 

 attachment for the young. From both causes the reproductive capacity of the bed is 

 reduced, but were the culled and dead shells returned to the bed both conditions 

 would be ameliorated. Under any system, however, even with good culling laws and 

 close seasons, it is hopeless to expect to supply the demand for any length of time 

 wholly from the natural beds. The only way in which to prevent their ultimate 

 depletion is to supply our markets largely from other sources; that is to say, we must 

 resort extensively to oyster-culture; and the character of legislation and the success 

 with which it is enforced are determining factors in the success or failure of the 

 undertaking. 



Liberal measures must be adopted, and opportunities, if not inducements, must 

 be offered. Private ownership must be established, and more especially the rights of 

 property in the planted beds must be vigorously enforced. More than this the State 

 can not well do. The methods of fish-culture are not now, and probably never will 

 be, available in propagating the oyster. Fish culture in many of its phases is a 

 legitimate and proper function of government, as all members of the community, 

 whether they be catchers or consumers of fish, partake of its benefits. In most cases. 

 owing to the nomadic character of the species propagated, private enterprise has no 

 inducements for engaging in it except those of philanthropy. Not so with oyster- 

 planting as at present practiced, for only he who sows reaps. Dr. Ryder once said 

 "Oysters are like potatoes, they stay where they are planted." All that the planter 

 need ask of the Government is to be placed on an equal footing with every other 

 citizen; to be permitted to acquire, without prejudice to others, property adapted to 

 his calling, and to be protected in his rights after acquirement. 



With this understanding the first question to arise is how and where he may 

 obtain such property. In some cases he may go into the markets and purchase lands 

 conveying to him the ownership of coves or salt ponds, but such cases are rare and 

 oyster- culture so confined would be unimportant indeed. Again, he might buy land on 

 tide water and excavate ponds, but oyster-culture has not reached a stage where 

 such methods would in general prove profitable. The only course left him, then, is to 



