THIRTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 155 
duced; and to-day Rhode Island has some 10,000, and Connecti- 
cut some 100,000 acres of oyster ground over and above the al- 
lowance originally made by nature. 
If the industry in the Chesapeake is to follow the same course 
as in the Northern States, then the establishment of artificial 
beds, and artificial extension of the oyster area with its conse- 
quent increase of the supply, will take place only upon the de- 
struction of the present natural beds. Indeed a prominent and 
intelligent oyster planter testified before the Virginia legisla- 
ture that he was half inclined to hope for just such a consuma- 
tion, so little had he to expect from the present condition 
of things. But a careful study of the Northern fishery and 
the laws, statutory and natural, which govern it, will show quite 
plainly, the steps necessary to be taken in order to accomplish 
the desired end. And if history and experience are to have any 
influence in forming men’s opinions and guiding their actions, 
the measures indicated by the study should surely be adopted. 
So far as I am able to see, the recuperation of an oyster industry 
is entirely dependent upon the recognition and adoption of one 
great principle as the foundation of the work. That principle 
is, the right of the State to cede and the individual to hold, 
tracts of bottom under a tenure similiar to that governing up- 
lands. In other words the practice of holding the oyster area 
open to any and all as common property, necessarily prevents 
in practice the adoption of conservative measures, or a policy 
of comprehensive and systematic improvement. On the other 
hand, no sooner is an individual and proprietary right affected 
than that powerful lever—self-interest—is brought into play, and 
progress becomes assured. 
Evidently cultivation of the common property will never be 
undertaken by the individual. Yet it must be undertaken by 
some one. It is impossible for the State to assiame work. The 
Chesapeake oyster area equals some 400,000 acres. If the cost 
of cultivation did not exceed $10 per acre, and it is much nearer 
$30 than gro, the expense would be $4,000,000 every three years. 
If the State of Connecticut undertook to cultivate her artificial 
beds, it would cost her from one to three millions per annum. 
If Rhode Island entered the field it would be at an expense of 
