The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-01-31
THE OYSTER QUESTION.

The State Senators were adul eSSed
on Monday night by Mr.. B. Howard
Haman, of Baltimore, in most inter-
csting and forcible manner in cxplana-
ton of his bill providing for leasing
the barren bottoms of the Chesapeake
Bay. He presented the question ID
manner that carried conviction, and,
If our lawmakers shall have the cour-
age TO stand up against mistaken
sentiment on the part Of the oyster
men in the Bay counties, a most whole
some law can be enacted. His propc-
sition is to lease out the present un-
productive parts of the States watery
bonanza, which contains at least 400,-
600 acres Rhode Island gets $40 per
acre for its oyster lands, but Mr.. H; :
man proposes rental of from 81 to 50
per acre for the Chesapeake bottoms
He says: "That means a revenue of
100000 to 100000 per annum. This
revenue, under the Road bill, is 10 be
expended in building and repairing the
roads of the State. All the farmers of
the State would be primarily benefited
by this measure. The packing inter-
csts would remain in Maryla instead
of being driven out" He quoted let
ter from the United States Fish Com
mission which stated that the yield in
Connecticut from the natural beds had
been worth $l.62 per acre and from
the cultivated grounds $34 &C per acre
The same letter stated the results in
Accomac county, Virginia, to Lave
been $l9S.7s per acre on cultivated
grounds and STAG per acre on natural
lt Us.
Professor William h. Brooks, OF
Johns Hopkins University, says: The
Chesapeake bay is a great river val
ley; not as large as that of the Nile or
Ganges, Tut of enough cons' quencc to
play an important part in human af
fairs, and to support in comfort and
prosperity a population as great as
that Of many famous States. 1t re-
ceivts the drainage of vast area of
fertile land stretching over the mead
ows and hillsidcs of nearly one-third of
New York and nearly all Of the great
agricultural States of PENNSYLVANIA
Maryland and Virginia. The most
valuable part Of the soil Of this ",cat
tract OF fal ming land, more than 40
100000 acres in area, ultimate finds
its way to the bay. in whose quiet
waters 1t makes long halt on its
journey to The ocean, and it is deposit
ed all over the bay, in the form Of fine,
light, black sediment known as oyster
mud. This is just as valuable to man,
and just as fit to nourish plants, as the
mud which settles every year on the
wheat fields and rice fields of Egypt"
This alluvium is in fact a natural fer
tlizer which sustains an endless va
riety of microscopic plants and animals
on which the Chesapeake bay oyster
= fattens and multiplies and becomes
the exceptional oyster of the world for
flavor and otlnr qualities 1t is esti-
mated that for Sc Yeas; tina. is from
1884, when the oyster packing bust
ness was established in Maryland, to
the year 1891, upwards Of 400, OOO,O 900
bushels Of oysters were taken from the
natural beds in the Chesapeake bay
and its tributaries for packing and
shipment. Under proper restrictions
and regulated oyster farming, which
must come in the near future, the Ches-
apeake oyster supply will prove an al
most boundless source of wealth and
comfort and prosperity to many thous-
ands of the inhabitants of the STATE.