Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners. 35 
Commission of their intention to retain their lots and now, 
through no fault on their part, their right to hold grounds 
formerly held, is open to question. The Commission holds 
it proper in such cases in Calvert County to grant leases for 
lots legally held on the date of the passage of the Haman 
Oyster Culture Law to the respective lessees even though no 
notification of the intention of such lessees to retain their 
lots was received by the Commission within the prescribed 
time. 
Prior to the date of the work of the Commission in Calvert 
County and even before the date of the passage of the Haman 
Oyster Culture Law, a wide difference of opinion among the 
residents of Solomons Island and vicinity had arisen con- 
cerning the condition of certain bottoms in the Patuxent 
River, known as the Middleground, and concerning the 
legality of leases which had been granted to private indi- 
viduals to certain portions of the Middleground for oyster 
culture. 
The dispute had been taken to the Court and a decision 
had been rendered declaring the bottoms covered by the con- 
tested leases to be natural oyster bar and the leases void. 
The right of the lessees to the oysters then on the contested 
bottoms had been conceded by the Court, however, and the 
lessees had been given one year in which to remove the 
oysters. Later this period had been extended to two years. 
The period during which the oysters on these lots might 
be removed ‘by ‘the:lessees had not elapsed at the time the 
survey of the oyster grounds of Calvert County was in 
progress and the oysters belonging to the lessees were yet 
on the parts of the Middleground adjudged by the Court to 
be natural oyster bar. 
The right or duty of the Commission under these circum- 
stances to examine the bottoms in litigation and to pass upon 
their status seemed open to question. It was finally decided 
to conduct no survey or examinations on any part of the 
Middleground which had been used at any time for oyster 
planting purposes for the obvious reason that a survey and 
examination of such bottoms would reveal nothing concern- 
ing the origin of the oysters which might be found on the 
bottoms and nothing concerning the condition of the bottoms 
before they were used for oyster planting purposes. 
