THIRTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 153 
In 1861, oysters in the Chesapeake were worth, according to 
the writer in Lippincott's whom I have already quoted, 15 and 20 
cents per bushel. In 1868, they had advanced to 25 and 30 cents. 
In 1879, the average price of the crop of 17,000,000 from Mary- 
land and Virginia was over 4o cents per bushel; and at the pres- 
ent time it is nearer 50 cents than 4o, and occasionally is much 
higher. And this increase in price is not wholly due to increase 
in demand. There has been an actual diminution in the number 
of oysters produced. The number of oysters passing through 
the Chesapeake and Delaware canal, the connecting link between 
Chesapeake and Delaware bays, is a pretty fair indication of 
the production of the Chesapeake beds. In 1879, in round num- 
bers, 940,000 bushels passed through. In 1883, only 550,000. 
That is, the reduction was about forty per cent. of the amount 
in 1879. And it is worthy of notice how close this result agrees 
with Dr. Brooks’ statement that the oyster beds had fallen off 
thirty-nine per cent. in value, since the examination made by 
myself in 1879. 
The facts I have recited certainly should be sufficient to con- 
vince any one that the oyster industry in the Chesapeake is in a 
very bad way; and, as I have explained, the condition of the 
Chesapeake fishery is virtually the condition of the whole. In 
other words, the present offers but little encouragement. Does 
the future offer more? 
A correct answer to the question necessitates the examination 
of the several causes whieh may have operated in bringing about 
the present state of things. We must decide upon the agency 
which has been at work and having discovered it, consider how 
it can be precluded from further operation. It may be confi- 
dently asserted that no natural cause has had any considerable 
deleterious influence. 
The natural influences and conditions to which the oysters 
were exposed in the past and under which they increased and 
multiplied so greatly, have in no way changed. Temperature 
and density of the water have been no more various than in the 
past. Channels and bottoms have remained stable. Factories 
and mills with their polluting excrement have not been erected. 
Organic life of any kind has neither increased or diminished to 
