OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT. 9 
of release of all his right and title thereto, and shall, on delivery 
of such instrument to the said Commissioners, receive their cer- 
tificate of said release of said grounds, the location and number 
of acres described therein, which shall be filed with the State 
Treasurer, who shall pay to the holder the sum of one dollar for 
every acre of ground described in said release, when said sum 
has been paid therefor to the State.” : 
The oyster-growers in 1881, under the promise of a return 
of their money in case of an unprofitable investment, made 
applications for many acres of ground in that portion of Long 
Island Sound where no previous designations had been made. 
This was particularly true of the waters lying between the town 
of Madison and the eastern boundary line of the State. 
After the most careful efforts for a series of years, oyster 
culture in this part of the State has proved a failure. Hither 
the constituents of the water, or the condition of the bottom, or 
the action of the tides, or perhaps a°*combination of all three, 
seems to render the locality unsuited for the breeding and growth 
of oysters. 
The legislature of 1889 made an appropriation of $10,000 
(see page 179 of Public Acts of 1889) to meet the demands of 
those surrendering designations under the provisions of the law 
above quoted. 
During the year ending June 380, 1890, a sufficient number 
of acres was surrendered to exhaust this appropriation, and the 
parties who had paid to the State $1.10 per acre in 1881, received 
one dollar per acre, eight or nine years after, having in the 
meantime paid annual taxes thereon. Not all of the 10,000 
acres, however, were east of Madison. In some cases, the per- 
sons who bought the grounds originally, either from want of 
capital or insufficient ability, have been unsuccessful in their ex- 
periments, and surrendered their holdings to the State, and 
other cultivators have almost immediately applied for them. In 
this way oyster grounds are sold over and over again, and the 
price fixed by the State received each time. 
Section 2322 of the Revised Statutes provides that all sur- 
renders of oyster grounds, under this act, shall be made within 
eight years, if the grounds were granted prior to July 1, 1884, 
