Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/121

 109 up the projections suitable for the reception of spat, and by breaking down, through the action of heavy dredges, the ridges which are especially fitted to be seats of the colonies. 1 The immense oyster-beds in Pocomoke Sound, Maryland, have practically been destroyed by over-dredg ing, and many of the other beds of the United States are seriously damaged. The same is doubtless true of all the beds of Europe. It has also been demonstrated that under proper restriction great quantities of mature oysters, and seed oysters as well, may be taken from any region of natural oyster-beds without injurious effects. Parallel cases in agriculture and forestry will occur to every one. Mobius, in his most admirable essay Die Aiister und Die Austernitnrt/isckaff, has pointed out the proper means of preserving natural beds, declaring that, if the average profit from a bed of oysters is to remain permanently the same, a sufficient number of mother oysters must be left in it, so as not to diminish the capacity of maturing. He further shows that the productive capacity of a bed can only be maintained in one of two ways : (1) by diminish ing the causes which destroy the young oysters, in which case the number of breeding oysters may safely be decreased ; this, however, is practicable only under such favourable conditions as occur at Arcachon, where the beds may be kept under the constant control of the oyster- culturist ; (2) by regulating the fishing on the natural beds in such a manner as to make them produce perma nently the highest possible average quantity of oysters. Since the annual increase of half-grown oysters is estimated by him to be four hundred and twenty-one to every thousand full-grown oysters, he claims that not more than 42 per cent, of these latter ought to be taken from a bed during a year. The Schleswig-Holstein oyster-beds are the property of the state, and are leased to a company whose interest it is to preserve their productiveness. The French beds are also kept under Government control. Not so the beds of Great Britain and America, which are as a general rule open to all comers, 2 except when some close-time regulation is in force. Prof. Huxley has illustrated the futility of &quot; close-time &quot; in his remark that the prohibition of taking oysters from an oyster-bed during four months of the year is not the slightest security against its being .stripped clean during the other eight months. &quot; Suppose,&quot; he continues, &quot; that in a country infested by wolves, you have a flock of sheep, keeping the wolves off during the lambing season will not afford much protection if you withdraw shepherd and dogs during the rest of the year.&quot; The old close-time laws were abolished in England in 1866, and returned to in 1876, but no results can be traced to the action of parliament in either case. Prof. Huxley s conclusions as regards the future of the oyster industry in Great Britain are doubtless just as applicable to other countries, that the only hope for the oyster consumer lies in the encouragement of oyster-culture, and in the development of some means of breeding oysters under such conditions that the spat shall be safely deposited. Oyster culture can evidently be carried on only by private enterprise, and the problem for legislation to solve is how 1 Even Prof. Huxley, the most ardent of all opponents of fishery legislation, while denying that oyster-beds have been permanently annihilated by dredging, practically admits that a bed may be reduced to such a condition that the oyster will only be able to recover its former state by a long struggle with its enemies and competition. in fact that it must re-establish itself much in the same way as they have acquired possession of new grounds in Jutland, a process which, according to his own statement, occupied thirty years (Lecture at the Royal Institution, May 11, 1883, printed with additions in the English Illustrated Ma/jazine, i. pp. 47-55, 112-21). 2 Connecticut has within a few years greatly benefited its oyster industry by giving to oyster-culturists a fee simple title to the lands under control by them. to give such rights of property upon those shores which are favourable to oyster culture as may encourage com petent persons to invest their money in that undertaking. Such property right should undoubtedly be extended to natural beds, or else an area of natural spawning territory should be kept under constant control and surveillance by Government, for the purpose of maintaining an adequate supply of seed oysters. The existing legislation in the United States is thus admirably summarized by Lieutenant Francis Winslow: 3 &quot;The fishery is regulated by the laws of the various States, the Federal Government exercising no control, and consequently the conditions under which the pursuit is followed are many and various. At the present time the laws relating to the oyster fishery may be said to be based upon one of two general principles. The first, the basis for the regulations of most of the States, con siders the oyster-beds to be inalienable common property. Laws based upon this principle are generally of a protective nature, and are in reality regulations of the State, made by it in its capacity of guardian of the common property. The second principle assumes the right of the State to dispose of the area at the bottom of its rivers, harbours, and estuaries, and, having disposed of it, to consider the lessee or owner as alone responsible for the success or failure of his enterprises, and the State in no way called upon to afford him of her assistance than protect ion in legitimate rights, in general terms, under the first principle the beds arc held in common ; under the second, in severally. But one State permits the pre emption of an unlimited tract of bottom, and the holding of it in fee the State of Connecticut. Rhode Island leases her ground for a term of years, at 810 per acre ; but the person holding an area linsno legal power of disposing of it beyond the limits of the lease. Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia all permit pre-emption of small tracts by individuals for indefinite periods, and on the coast of Long Island the various towns along the shore lease tracts of considerable extent to private cultivators. &quot; Various restrictions are also placed upon the time and manner of conducting the fisheries. Some of the States, noticeably Virginia, prohibit entirely the use of the dredge or scrape ; others, noticeably New Jersey, prohibit such use in some localities, and permit it in others. All the States, with one exception, prohibit the use of steam vessels or machinery, or fishing by other than their own inhabit ants. Connecticut again forms the exception, and quite a large fleet of steam dredging vessels are employed on her beds. &quot;The laws of the various States have several common features. All general fishing is suspended during the summer months. No night fishing is permitted. No steamers are allowed to be used. No proprietary rights to particular areas arc- given beyond the right to plant 1 a limited number of oysters on bottoms adjoin ing land owned by the planter, and peace officers and local authorities are charged with execution of laws relating to the fishery. In a few States or localities licences are required to be obtained for each fishing vessel; and in one State. Maryland, a regular police force and fleet of vessels are maintained to support the law. These regulations are easily evaded, except those relating to the steamer* a::d pre-emption of ground. Naturally, no one will put down oysters without being able to protect them ; and steamers are too readily detected to make their illegal employment possible. In Connecticut and Hhode Island, the beds being virtually private property, there is no restriction of the fishery, except that it shall not be conducted at night.&quot; The method of gathering oysters is simple, and much the same in all parts of the world, the implements in use being nippers or tongs with long handles, rakes, which are simply many-pronged nippers, and dredges. The subjoined account of the American method is abridged from that of Lieutenant Winslow: The character of the vessel or boat used depends in a measure upon the means of the fisherman and the constancy of his employment, and is also influenced by the character of the oyster ground, its location, and the laws governing the fish ing. The last-named condition also decides the implement to be used ; when permitted, it is the dredge either the enormous one employed by the steamers, the smaller toothed rake-dredge, or smooth-scrape. When dredging is prohibited, the tongs, or nippers, with two handles, sometimes 30 feet long, are used. The dredges are usually worked by an apparatus termed a &quot;winder, 1 many forms of which are employed, the best and most recent form being so designed that if, while reeling in, the dredge should &quot;hang,&quot; that is, become immovably fixed by some obstruction r-n the bottom, the drum is at once automatically thrown out of gearing, and the dredge-rope allowed to run out. Small craft use a more simple and less expensive description of winch, and frequently haul in by hand, while the steam dredgers have powerful machinery adapted for this special purpose. The number of men employed varies with the size of the craft ; two, three, and four men are sufficient on board the smaller dredgers, while the larger carry ten and twelve. While a great many oysters arc transported in the shell to markets distant from the seaboard, the largest part of the inland consumption is of &quot;opened&quot; or &quot;shucked&quot; oysters, and nearly every oyster dealer along the coast employs a larger or smaller number of persons to open the oysters and pack and ship the meats. Some of these establishments arc small, having as few as half a dozen people engaged ; others are large buildings or sheds, and employ hundreds of &quot; shuckers.&quot; After having been removed from their shells and thoroughly washed, the oysters thus dealt with are transferred either to small cans, holding a quart of oysters, or to barrels, kegs, or tubs ; when packed in tubs, kegs, or barrels, they go in bulk, with a large piece of ice; when packed in the tin cans, the cans are arranged in two rows inside of a long box, a vacant space being left in the centre, between the rows, in which is placed ft large block of ice. The cans are carefully soldered up before packing, and together with the ice are laid in saw dust. Oysters packed in this way ciin, in cool weather, be kept a week or more, and sent across the continent, or to the remote western towns. The steaming process is that by which the &quot; cove&quot; oysters are prepared. The term &quot;cove&quot; is applied to oysters put up in cans, hermetically sealed, and intended to be prose i ved an indefinite time. The trade in coves is confined principally to the Chesapeake region, and the process of prepaiing them is as follows. The oysters, usually the smaller sizes, are taken from the vessels and placed in cars of iron frame-work, 6 or 8 feet long. These cars run on a light iron track, which is laid from the wharf through the &quot; steam-chest &quot; or &quot; steam- box&quot; to the shucking shed. As soon as a car is filled with oysters (in the shell) it is run into the steam-chest, a rectangular oak box, 15 to 20 feet long, lined with sheet iron and fitted with appliances for turning in steam ; the doors, which wo k vertically and shut closely, are then let down, the steam admitted, and the oysters 3 Catalogue of the Economic Mollusca exhibited by the United States National Museum at the International Fisheries Exhibition, London, 1883.