10 Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners. 
DEFINITION OF A NATURAL OYSTER BAR. 
NATURAL BAR NOT DEFINED, 
The Shell Fish Commission is instructed by Section 90 of 
the Haman Oyster Culture Law to exercise its judgment 
liberally in favor of the natural bars when surveying, charter- 
ing and buoying them, but other than this the Commission is 
uninstructed in this important matter. The responsibility of 
defining a natural bar is placed upon the Commission. 
DIVERSITY OF OPINION. 
No definition of a natural oyster bar could be formulated 
by any man or body of men which would meet with the ap- 
proval of all the parties concerned. Oystermen, as a rule, 
hold that all bottoms where oysters grow or have grown 
naturally even though now practically barren of oysters 
should be considered natural bars. Other citizens of the State 
who are not directly interested in the oyster business, but 
interested in the oyster industry from the standpoint of reve- 
nue, hold, as a rule, that no bottoms should be excluded from 
leasing for oyster culture which, by methods known to oyster 
culturalists, may be made to yield a greater number of oysters 
than they now produce. 
It should be evident to every one that neither of these 
definitions could be adopted by the Commission as a basis for 
determining which of the grounds surveyed are natural bars. 
THE GOLDSBOROUGH DEFINITION, 
The definition of a natural oyster bar which very nearly 
approaches a reasonable and satisfactory compromise be- 
tween the views of the subject held by oystermen on one hand 
and by oyster culturalists on the other is that contained in 
an opinion rendered by Judge Chas. F. Goldsborough in the 
Cireuit Court for Dorchester County in the July term, 1881, 
in the case of William T. Windsor and George R. Todd vs. 
Job T. Moore. 
This definition has been adopted by the Shell Fish Commis- 
sion as the basis for the determination of the status of the 
various oyster bottoms surveyed and is as follows: 
