158 FISH-CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 
ment farcs, until perceiving all the advantages which would 
accrue from systematic and intelligent effort in this field, he has 
engaged in the pursuit with wonderful success and credit. Some 
such system, it seems to me, must be adopted in the Chesapeake 
region, if we wish to secure sensible legislation and actual ad- 
vance prior to the destruction of the great natural beds. The 
people must be educated—must be made to see the folly of their 
ways and the wisdom of those of others. And, though I am ut- 
terly opposed to the entrance of the State into the oyster busi- 
ness, yet if the establishment of a few model oyster farms can 
teach the people of Maryland and Virginia how to husband and 
increase the wealth nature has given them, I should regard the 
money expended in such establishment well spent. 
But I have detained you far longer than I intended when I 
first thought of addressing you, and must bring this paper to a 
close. The range of my subject and the importance of the prin- 
ciple I have been most desirous of urging upon your considera- 
tion, have precluded discussion of many minor points of great 
interest to oyster-culturists, and possibly to the general public. 
It has also necessitated a more general and superficial treatment 
of the question, than I would desire. But if I have succeeded 
in impressing the need for some more efficacious measures than 
have yet been adopted my end has been accomplished. Certain- 
ly something should be done. Glance at the census tables and 
you will find that, with the exception of Virginia, Maryland 
employs ten times as many persons, and produces ten times as 
many oysters as any other State. The gross value of her pro- 
duct is two to four times as large, and her capital five times as 
great. She has at work two and three times as many vessels, 
and produces nine and ten times as many oysters. In every re- 
spect upon a superficial examination, Maryland’s oyster trade 
appears head and shoulders above that of any other locality. 
But when a comparison is made of the percentage of capital 
returned as income, instead of Maryland’s heading the list as 
would be supposed, she actually brings up at the bottom, her in- 
dustry returning a smaller income than any other State in the 
Union. Though the area of the oyster ground is about 400,000 
acres, the yield per acre is only 40 bushels, while at the North 
