284 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



kets, but it can also be attributed in part to the natural industry and enterprise of her 

 citizens and to the enlightened public opinion which places planted oysters on a par 

 with other property and respects the right of the planter to reap the fruits of his 

 labors. 



Of enterprise and industry Connecticut has no monopoly, but unfortunately there 

 are many parts of our seaboard where the oyster-planter is regarded as the usurper of 

 the common rights to the fisheries and his legal rights are interfered with by an 

 adverse public opinion. This is one of the greatest difficulties with which he has to 

 contend. Theft of property beneath the tide is palliated by some as an act of retribu- 

 tory justice against a common enemy, and men will steal oysters who would scorn to 

 enter their neighbor's poultry-house. This peculiar moral obliquity is rooted in ignor- 

 ance and must be combated by education, supplemented by more than occasional 

 salutary castigations from the strong arm of the law. 



Summarizing : Those who wish to perpetuate and extend our oyster wealth should 

 procure a rational culling law rigidly and intelligently enforced; the close season 

 should be at such time and of such duration as will protect, not so much the spawning 

 oysters, but the delicate spat during the period when it is especially susceptible to 

 Injury from the ordinary working of the beds; public opinion must be formed to regard 

 oyster-planting in its true light, as a benefit to the whole community; liberal laws 

 must foster and encourage the occupation of the tide lands not natural oyster-beds; 

 the oyster planter should have the same treatment as the cotton-planter, sugar- 

 planter, or the market- gardener, with liberty to hold or dispose of his property as he 

 pleases, paying a just proportion of the taxes and no more. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



