The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-12-31
SHELL FISH INDUSTRY.
SUMMARY OF THE REPORT OF
 STATE COMMISSIONERS.
New oyster Ground. Continue to Gro,

New Oyster Grounds Continue to Grow
 Less-The BusIness, However. In
 ereasinE in volume, Value and Im-
 portance-Hurvest Reaped From
 This Years eset. the Best Since 1sss Hartford, Dec. 2s.-The shell fish commissioners of Connecticut to-day sent to Governor Chamberlain their annual report for the year ending Sep tember 30. The opening chapter of the report takes up the matter of negotia- tions with the New York authorities with reference to shell fisheries to the end that the laws of the two states now proscriptive in certain respects may be harmonized and relations of re- ciprocal advantage and amity es- tablished. Considerable progress is re- ported, but legal complications in New York state, it is stated, have pre- vented the accomplishment of what might otherwise easily have been done. The present conditions. however are more hopeful and give promise of a fairly satisfactory result.
 1 The report shows that the taxes for the fiscal year were $7,S05 and other receipts brought the total to SS,679, a slight increase over the previous year, while the expenditures decreased some what, leaving a net balance to the state of over S4.0On. The success of the oyster set the past season is shown by the fact that while the boat licenses in 15O2-0S were only ss5 for the past year the total was S676.
 The commissioners say further that while the oyster business of Connecti- cut is growing in volume, value and importance, the amount of new grounds which. the state has to sell to supply the increasing needs of ex. 4 pansion is continually growing smaller Grounds once rejected as impracticable are now in marry instances made avail able by reason of new and improved methods of culture. The commission has seen the necessity Of making ! oyster beds" as provided for in the l statutes and 1t is obvious that chiefly through these methods the available g oysters grounds of the state can be
 materially increased. The sale of new grounds is comparatively small and Connecticut planters are continually seeking outside the state fresh fields for development. Thousands of acres tin New York waters have been taken 4 up this year by Connecticut men and New York oyster planters have bought of Connecticut owners oysters which i could not be- acquired by the cofn- ] mission, but which the private owner had a right to Sell These facts make on both sides for the ultimate harmo-1 nizing of the laws of the two states. In a chapter on "sets the report tells of the harvest reaped this year the ! best since 1899. The catch on the l natural beds of the state Is placed ait S00,000 bushels, and figured at a value of 71s cents a bushel the catch would I yield s2fT .5e0, sum not far from what has been received. As d busflel of seed contains from 1S,000 to 10000 individual l oysters. most of which with careful handling with mature for the market
 iii three years, the value of the s'sets, 1l can be readily appreciated The star fish pest has developed as readily as
 the oyster set but the modern plaiit-
 er Is now able to cope with the crop of stars by use of the map drege,
 References are made in other chap
 ters to the work of the patrotnen of the commission, the preparation of imaps of the planted areas. the award l of gold medal at St. Louis and the
 condition of the industry in neighbor- ing states The commission makes no estimate of the total value of the oys- ter output iii Connecticut, but does
 speak in encouraging terms of the out look according much praise to the
 planters for their efforts to improve the quality The report says in closing Notwithstanding uncertainties, the
 Connecticut oyster business is be-
 coming more and more sure in the