300 FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



and products less deserving substituted for them. Blue Points which never 

 saw Blue Point or any other portion of Great South Bay are palmed upon the 

 unwary purchaser; and clams supposed to be from Little Neck Bay may be 

 had anywhere in the country. Long Island Sound, with its Bays and har- 

 bors, Gardiner's and the Peconic Bays to the eastward, Shinnecock, Great 

 South, Jamaica, Prince's and Raritan Bays, are important centers from 

 which comes an unrivaled product. Situated midway between the northerly 

 and southerly limits of good growing territory, its waters peculiarly adapted 

 to growing the molluscs at all stages of existence, with an immense and 

 largely increasing production, New York stands, as she does in many depart- 

 ments of industry, in the very front rank of oyster producing States. The 

 State has suffered to some extent from the effects of indiscriminate and ill- 

 considered legislation enacted in past years at the solicitation of localities 

 or in the interest of individuals or of numbers of those engaged in the 

 industry. There has until within the past few years been little attempt 

 at uniformity of laws; thousands of acres have been virtually given away, 

 in perpetuity, to individuals, upon the payment, at the time of grant of one 

 dollar per acre to the State, and many more thousands have been absolutely 

 given away to localities (counties and towns) without the least payment 

 or return to the State. However much the State may have suffered from 

 an occasional largess of this description it is yet in better position in this 

 respect than some other oyster-producing States where lands under water 

 have been granted in perpetuity until little or no lands valuable for shell- 

 fish cultivation are left. New York, fortunately, has large reserves still 

 available, and with the leasing system now in operation no more lands (which 

 belong to the entire people) will be given away. The State of Rhode Island 

 furnishes an example of a wise administration of shellfish matters. From 

 the very outset, in that State, the lands have been leased to planters, reserv- 

 ing the fee to the State, and in consequence an income from rentals annually 

 increasing in amount, as more lands are utilized, is gained for the treasury. 

 In some States the voice and vote of the free bay fisherman have been of 

 sufficient influence to commit those States to the free bay policy under which 

 the lands are open to all citizens (generally to the township) to rake and take 

 shellfish wherever they choose. Under this destructive method beds and 

 rocks have been stripped of all valuable growth while nothing has been 



