56 SHELL-FISH COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT. [Jan., 
in each year; values to be ascertained from sworn lists 
subject to investigation and revision when deemed neces- 
sary. Every owner should be required to deliver his list 
to some proper officer on or before some day to be deter- 
mined; and on failure so to do the said officer should be 
authorized to make up such list as he may be able, on 
which a double rate of tax should be levied. The annual 
rate should not be less than the average rate of the taxes 
laid by the shore towns on their real and personal prop- 
erty, including general State and county taxes. The burden 
thus imposed would then be no greater and no less than 
that borne by the oyster lee within town jurisdic- 
tion. It is said by the oyster growers that oyster planting 
in deep waters is in its infancy; but this is true only in the 
sense that there is good prospect of its immense develop- 
ment and growth in the immediate future. Oyster grow- 
ing in the deep waters of the Sound, beyond the reach of 
storms, is no longer an untried or uncertain experiment. 
It is an assured success, notwithstanding it may be true 
that there is much yet to be found out in the management 
and protection of the oyster. To-day no one doubts that 
the business is rapidly extending, and that it is exceed- 
ingly profitable. Why then should it not bear, like all 
other industries of the State, its share of the burdens. 
If it is exposed to the perils of gales and water enemies, 
as no doubt it is, soare the farming industries of the State 
exposed to storms and drouths and destructive insects. 
And further, while it is true that the State is not asked to 
go to the expense of hatching oysters for the oystermen to 
catch, as is the case in respect to floating fish, it should 
not be forgotten that the State has generously yielded its 
oyster grounds at a merely nominal price to encourage the 
business; and it is now incurring large expenses expressly 
for the purpose of placing it upon a proper footing, by 
surveying and mapping the grounds for the better confir- 
mation of the titles and the protection of the property of 
the oystermen. More than this, it is not improbable that 
the State may yet be asked to hatch oysters for the oyster 
men to catch. The day of artificial hatching is approaching, 
