Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-08

ed by buoys or any other form Of signal
nt Sery the
their catch. Then they are not only OBJ
tects Of attack for the tongersd but they
lay themselves liable to the law and the
oyster police. The oyster war of 1883 is
historic in Maryland. The boats, iof the
oyster navy were not well equipped for DO
lice duty then. and a number of dyedgers
law They not only resisted the attacks of
the authorities, but attacked the police
boats themselves But the state authorities
armed the oyster navy with better, guns,
ana the dredgers were soon brought to
terms; not, however. before several 81 their
boats had been sunk and some slives had
been lost. 1t was in the war Of 1883 that
the oyster navy learned the trick OF ram
ming. Their chief mode Of attack now is
to sink the boats which violate the law by
dredging on shallow ground
The Boundary Line Dispute.
The work Of the H>yy. however is not
confined to regulating the Maryland oyster
men, There are grave questions Of ter
ritory unsettled between .the states of Viz
ginia and Maryland: and the Maryland
navy has been called sometimes to defend
the rights Of the Maryland fishermen
against the fishermen from Virginia. Vir-
R1nia. too. has an oyster navy. and several
STATE wars have been avoided only by
mars breadth. The chief point undeter-
mined now Is the place where the POGO
meke river ends and the Chesapeake bay
begins. The waters of the river are com.
mon property; but where the river broadens
10 the bay are the principal oyster beds:
and Maryland claims that a string of small
Islands some distance from the apparent
mouth of the river marks its boundary
while the vlrginians contend that the real
mouth or the river Is some distance above
this place. The question must be determin-
ed eventually by the Supreme Court of the
United States. This court of last resort
settled the boundary line in the Potomac
Virginia
declared that the whole of the riverbed as
iar as low-water mark on the virginia side
belonged TO Maryland. But both states en-
JOY the right or taking oysters in all parts
OF the river by virtue of an agreement made
IN iiSo when the boundary line was first
IN dispute About $IU,OOO worth of oysters
ere taken every year in the Potomac
Inc. canning trade uses from two TO three
miliion OF bushels of oysters every wear
II had It's beginning in 1864, and it was a
s very PROSPEROUS industry until 1919, when
snort measure and so brought the business
INTO disrepute. But since 1881 the Gamers
nave been required to stamp on each can
me weight OF the solid oysters within; and
ehIorceu honesty has revived the canning
trade and the canning business 1t l., az
course necessary that the oyster be treated
ana shut up In the can as soon after being
taken from the water as Is possible So
the oysters as they are taken from the
Vessel and measured are dumped into a
car six or eight feet long, made of iron.
ana this car is run along n track directly
INTO the steam box. This Is an oak hoy
hfteen to twenty feet long lined with sheet
non. Inc vertical doors at each end are
pulled down, and the steam is turned on
Al the end of ten or fifteen minutes the
steam Is turned off, and the doors opened
ana the car Is run into the shocking room
There the shuckers work on the oysters as
they lie In the car, hooking their cans on
the edge OF the car and emptying the meat
from the opened oysters with their knives
Inc oysters are then washed with ice water
and taken TO the filters table The cans
are niied, packed in cylindrical iron crate
and lowered into a tub, where the oysters
Undergo another steaming. When the cans
are cool enough to be handled, they are
taken to the Gaping" table, where the
tops are soldered on. Then they are labeled
hour from the time the shell-oyster leaves
the vessel 1t is ready to go on the cars.
Future of the Induxtry.,,
Mr.. Charles II. Stevenson of the fish COM
mission. who has made a special study of
the oyster, and to whose admirable reports
l am indebted for much Information, saws
that he hss no fear that the, Maryland
oyster will become extinct And still he
does not recommend the private ownership
or the oyster reefs. But that planting
oysters is an industry TO which the Mary
land oysterman must turn in time MIR.
stevenson Is convinced. j. Il
asked Mr.. Stevenson II he believed that
artff1cial propagation would not solve the
question. not only for Maryland but for
the other oyster fisheries. "a
"A number Of experiments have been
made In this direction" he said, but
though the possibility of gathering the eggs
and fertilizing them has been proved its
praeticability has not. The money which
might be spent in oyster propagation could
be used more prcfitably in some other way
One regulation which i regard as important
to be enacted Is for the return to the bay
OF the oyster shells If these shells were
returned to the bay. they would rapidly
disintegrate. furnishing the material for
the shells Of other oysters. 1t is a serious
question how long the supply of carbonate
of lime will hold out in the bay"
.-. GEORGE GRANTHAM Balm