248 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
This law required the clerk of the circuit court of Dorchester to issue licenses to boats 
and vessels owned by citizens of that county, authorizing them to use scrapes in 
certain waters on the southern shore thereof between October 1 and April 30 in each 
year. It was required that the licensed boat should not exceed 5 tons measurement, 
and the license fees were established as follows : For every boat measuring less than 
20 feet in length the sum of $5; from 20 to 25 feet, the sum of $8; from 25 to 30 feet, 
$10, and all over 30 feet in length the sum of $20, the revenue derived therefrom being- 
paid into the State treasury. In 1872 (ch. 181) it was required that the license fees 
thereafter should be paid into the treasury of the county school fund. 
In 1874 (ch. 214) the scraping law for southern Dorchester was modified, the 
principal changes being in raising the limit of measurement of the craft employed 
from 5 to 10 tons, changing the license fee to $3 per ton, and in not permitting scraping 
within 200 yards of the shore, nor from May 1 to September 14. But in 1878 the 
license fee was reduced to $2 per ton, and soon thereafter all boats measuring under 
5 tons were required to pay a fee of $8 each, without regard to their actual measure- 
ment. In 1882 (ch. 327) the close time for scraping in these waters was changed from 
May 1-September 14 to April 1-September 30, and in 1892 (ch. 278) it was again 
changed to March 1-September 30. 
The law authorizing scraping within certain limits of Talbot County, and which 
is common to that county and the northern shore of Dorchester County, originated in 
an act of 1874 (ch. 437) authorizing any twelve-month resident of either county to 
obtain a license permitting him to catch oysters from September 15 to April 30, by 
means of scrapes, in certain waters of those two counties. The license was obtainable 
from the clerk of the circuit court for the county of which the applicant was a resi- 
dent, and no provision was made for licensing vessels measuring over 10 tons. The 
fee was placed at $3 per ton, the revenue derived therefrom being devoted to the 
school fund of the county in which the license was issued. In 1876 (eh. 405) the 
scraping season was changed to September 15-May 31, and in 1878 (ch. 359) the license 
fee was reduced to $2 per ton. By act of 1884 (ch. 468) all boats measuring less than 
5 tons were required to pay $8 license fee, without reference to their actual measure- 
ment, and the scraping season in the waters referred to was changed to October 1- 
March 31, it being again changed in 1892 (ch. 278) to October 1-March 1. 
The following statement exhibits in a condensed form the close seasons that have 
been operative in scraping in each of the three counties in which this form of fishery 
is authorized : 
Somerset. 
Dorchester, southern shore. 
Dorchester, northern shore, 
and Talbot. 
Years. 
Close seasons. 
Years. 
Close seasons. 
Years. 
Close seasons. 
1854-66 
1870-73 
May 1-Sept. 30 j 
May 1-Sept. 15 
Apr. 1-Sept. 30 
Mar. 1-Oct. 30 
1874-75 
May 1-Sept. 14 
June 1-Sept. 14 
Apr. 1-Sept. 30 
Mar. l-Sept. 30 
1867 85 
1886-93 
June l-Sept. 1 
Apr. 1-Sept. 30 
1 1874-81 
1882 91 1 
1892-93 
1876 83 
1884-91 
1892-93 
The following table shows, so far as practicable, the number of scraping licenses 
issued in each county since the origin of this branch of the fishery. Much search 
