THIRTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. I4I 
ers, the latter are poor men, who use sailing vessels. The pub- 
lic beds have been raked so constantly for a number of years 
that very few large oysters can be found upon them. Most of 
the “stuff” as it is called, taken from them is used for the plant- 
ing of other beds more or less remote. 
A few years ago a serious controversy arose as to the effect of 
steamer work upon the natural beds. The steamer owners 
claimed that their work tended to improve the bed by preparing 
the bottom for a better set of the spat in the breeding season. 
The owners of sailing vessels on the contrary claimed that the 
heavy dredges of the steamers plowed up the ground to such an 
extent asto ruin it. The result of the discussion of the subject 
was that in 1881, the legislature passed an act forbidding the use 
of steamers upon any of the natural beds of the State, and that 
law still remains in effect to-day. While most of the natural 
beds are in comparatively shallow water, the cultivators of 
oysters do not deem it safe to plant oysters inless than twenty- 
four feet of water, and many of their productive beds are in 
water from thirty to sixty feet deep. They claim that in less 
than twenty-four feet of water, the crop is liableto be destroyed 
by heavy storms, the oysters being either covered up and 
smothered with mud or sand, or washed ashore by the action of 
the waves. 
The hydrographic work of the engineer of the commission is 
so accurate that confidence has been given to cultivators to take 
up claims in deep water, witha certainty that if they secure valu- 
able ground and their stakes or buoys are removed or carried 
away by storms or steamboats, they can be replaced. The sys- 
tem adopted in this respect is the following: When an appli- 
cant has secured a grant of a plot of ground from the commis- 
sioners, on an appointed day, the engineer with an assistant pro- 
ceeds to the locality with the applicant, and having fixed the 
precise situation with their instruments, the buoys are placed in 
position, and a record is made of the spot, which is transferred 
to the books of the office, each buoy being numbered. If at any 
future time, the buoys are misplaced, all that is needed to cor- 
rect the error is to consult the number of buoys in the records, 
and they can be replaced without difficulty. The amount of 
