6 
Between 1860 and 1906, the close of the first period, several 
important developments of the oyster industry are reflected 
in the legislation enacted. ‘The first of these is the growing 
fear of the oystermen and the general public of the destruction 
of the industry by the depletion of the beds. It is not neces- 
sary to discuss this phase of the question in detail. The pas- 
sage by the State of more and more rigorous cull laws restrict- 
ing the size of the oysters that might be taken; the require- 
ments that culled shells should be returned to the beds from 
which they were taken; the requirements that oysters should 
be culled on the natural bar as taken, and that all empty shells 
and all oysters below the legal size should be included in such 
culling and replaced on the natural bar; the close limitations 
as to the time within which oysters might be taken, including 
the prohibition of night work; the limitation of the use of the 
scoop or dredge to certain open areas; the prohibition of the 
use of steam or power for the operation of scoops or dredges; 
the creation of an important and expensive Oyster Navy, and 
the prohibition of firearms of a sufficient size to resist such 
Navy, and the creation of an elaborate system of licensing and 
numbering public dredging vessels are sufficient indications 
of the dread of depletion in the minds of those interested in 
the industry. 
A second tendency which is reflected in the legislation of 
this period is that toward further recognition of the necessity 
for private control of land suitable for oyster farming. Very 
early in the industry, as indicated by the legislation in the 
Code of 1860, thrifty oystermen had discovered that it was 
possible to remove oysters from the natural bar to a new loca- 
tion without injury, or if the new location was one which sup- 
plied a greater amount of food, with actual benefit to the 
oysters so transplanted. It therefore became the habit of 
many oystermen, instead of selling the oysters taken by them 
early in the season or in open weather when the ease of secur- 
ing them had a tendency to glut the market with a correspond- 
ing reduction of price, to deposit oysters taken at this time in 
sheltered waters, at depths easily workable and with sufficient 
tidal flow to provide an adequate supply of food. Later in the 
season, when the best of the year’s crop had been gathered 
