32 
cover more than the entire area named or else the parties to 
the case have agreed upon a compromise boundary line so 
that the court has in no case been compelled to fix a bound- 
ary between natural bar and barren bottom upon the basis 
of the testimony alone, the findings being merely that cer- 
tain definite areas were natural bar; not including, however, 
the further statement that the adjacent areas were barren. 
Tuer NEuTRAL ZONE 
The neutral zone provision is, in the opinion of the Com- 
mission, a good one, but needs additional interpretation as to 
its significance. It is evident that a system by which the 
natural rock and the leased area are immediately contiguous 
will lead to constant charges of trespassing. If, however, 
the neutral zone is to be regarded as opened to the natural- 
rock oystermen and closed to the planter, which is the prob- 
able significance of the present law, it means that the planter 
must either create a second neutral zone, on which he pays 
the State rental, by failing to plant to the edge of his territory, 
or else find himself subject to the charge of appropriating 
the neutral zone to his private benefit. The whole necessity 
of a neutral zone grows out of the fact that land under water 
cannot be divided by permanent definite boundaries and that 
the tonger or dredger cannot practically confine their work- 
ings to a definite line. It is desirable, therefore, that there 
should be between any two tracts of under-water land held 
under different ownership, whether public and private or both 
private, an intermediate lane in which both should be per- 
mitted to work and which neither should be permitted to cross, 
and this lane should be sufficiently wide so that a man could 
work to the full limit of the territory allotted to him without 
danger of encroaching on the territory allotted to his neighbor. 
Under the present law, however, the neutral zone is a belt of 
territory surrounding the natural bar. The natural-bar oyster- 
man may extend his operations to the very outer edge of this 
new belt territory, while the lessee, unless he is also licensed 
as a natural-rock oysterman, may not encroach in the slightest 
upon this neutral territory. The effect of the neutral zone, 
