OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT. [5 
involved has been prepared and printed for distribution to the 
members of the Legislature at its session of 1889. The agree- 
ment has been confirmed by both States interested; and a law for 
its ratification, prepared and presented by Senator Platt, has been 
passed by Congress and approved by the President. A copy of this 
law will be found in the Appendix to this Report. 
SPAWNING. 
With few exceptions, spawning the past season was two weeks 
later than usual, and the set was very light. The causes are 
obscure and the opinions of cultivators diverse. Cold weather 
and excessive rains, affecting the condition of the water, doubt- 
less tended to the unfavorable result. A larger area of shells 
was covered by the cultivators than ever before; and the light set 
must result in great losses to those interested; for they not only 
fail of the expected crop, but they must incur the expense of 
dredging up the shells for cleansing and redistribution; or they 
must, by repeated stirring with a dredge on the eve of the spawn- 
ing season, so cleanse them that the spat will adhere to them. 
GENERAL REMARKS. 
The remarkable success of the system established by the State 
for promoting this great industry has attracted the attention of 
other States. The Commissioners have supplied some of these 
States with details of the various branches of the work, the par- 
ticular methods observed, the forms used, and the various record 
books of the commission, and they have been generally adopted, 
with slight variations. In addition to the States heretofore 
named, the State of Rhode Island may now be mentioned. The 
system which has been followed in that State has not worked sat- 
isfactorily. ‘The land has been leased to the cultivators by the 
State in small tracts, for the term of ten years, at an annual 
rental of ten dollars per acre, with the privilege of five-year 
renewals under certain conditions. ‘There was always more or 
less uncertainty in securing a renewal, and this naturally discour- 
aged attempts at cultivation during the last years of the lease. 
The result has been that the supply of oysters has fallen in the 
last few years from 400,000 to 40,000 bushels per year. For this 
and other reasons, a movement has been made in the Legislature 
of that State, with a view to establish a new system, akin to that 
of Connecticut. Messrs. C. Sydney Smith and J. B. Mason, of 
