The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-22
ATLANTIC COAST NOTES

ATLANTIC COAST NOTES
 Good results are reported by dredg- CTS of Bridgeport, Conn.
 In order to have q greater car rying capacity an upright boiler has been placed in the oyster steamer Vii, liam Cummings, owned by the Merwln Oyster company of Bridgeport, Conn.
 It had been arranged for the com blaming oystermen of Delaware Bay to meet a representative of the govern ment on board the tugboat VidetIe to discuss the controversy about the dumping of the dredgings which the oystermen claimed threatened to ruin their preserves, but none of the oyster people put in an appearance. Major c. A. F. Flagler, the United States en- gineer, has in the meantime ordered that the dredgings be deposited out side of the disputed zone until such time as the special surveying board he has sent out to make an investigation of the currents and conditions can re- port to him.
 Edward Wilcox of Providence has recently made a round of inspection on the various crafts owned by the Sea- comet River Oyster company.
 In Providence, R. |, law was re- gently passed by the upper body of the legislature at the instance of sanitary experts with the backing of the State Board of Health making it illegal to take oysters from any beds within 5000 feet from an outlet of a sewer The Rhode Island Shelifish commission viz orously opposes this act maintaining that proximity to sewers has no dele- terious effects upon oysters Further more, they claim that such a law will involve the state in such mess of lawsuits on account of the abrogation of recently leased lands that the reye- nues will be wiped out. To an observer from distance it looks as if the She'll fish commission might be more con- cerned over the cultivation of fat reve- nues than over the menace to the health of an unprotected public.
 In Maryland the oyster people are still agitating the repeal of the Haman act.
 One may get fair idea of the reve- nue there is in it for a shellfish com missioner by the following figures re- gently given out in connection with the oyster lands in Gardiners and Peconic Bays, L. l.; 10.9S3 acres of land at $25O per acre yielded the county total of O. nc |, tes one dollar and each commissioner 50 cents per acre. During 15 months the commissioners received about $5,400 apiece and the county drew $11,145. Be- sides this the commission met in March, 1906, at Riverhead, and signed Is deeds covering 4,175 acres for which was paid S10,43750, or about $2O0O to cath commissioner.
 SEED OYSTERS.
 Charles +. Ledman of Tighman' s, Talbot county, Maryland, was the first longer to avail himself of the right to lease barren bottoms in Chesapeake Bay for the purpose of eiiltivating oys-. ters as provided in the Haman Oyster Culture Act.
 It is said that there is no menace in the various oyster bills before the Con- necticut legislature to the small dredger on natural beds But an effort will be made to raise the license fee from $2 to $5.
 Maryland and her oystermen seem to keep the Haman law controversy pot boiling merrily all the time, The time had arrived for the taking of seed oys- ters from the area above line drawn from Badkin Point to Swan Point. Tongers, aeording to the new act, were to be permitted to take seed oysters between April 15 and May 15, to sell toto those who had leased barren bot toms for cultivation. But back in June, 1906, some months after the Ha- man law was effective, the court of ap- peals held that according to an old cull law no oysters could be taken from any water measuring less than ? 1-2 inches from mouth to hinge. On this Commander Howard of the Maryland Oyster Navy, bases his determination to arrest any one who ventures to tong seed oysters as provided under the new ist llC GlLGSll Io SlulJiS. u Ul6dus that the propagation of oysters on the barren bottoms Is indefinitely held up It absolutely stops the entire game. As Chimmie Fadden would say, There nothin' doin'!" It is probable that an arrest will be made to test the ruling on which Commander Howard is trying to tic up proceedings.
 Messrs. Wilbur and Green have stalk ed out the river near Somerset, Mass. to plant oyster shells.
 ! Oyster planting begins at Maurice River Cove, Pa. on May 1. It is said a larger number of men are employed this season than ever before. [ Lancraft Bros. have over one hun. dred men at work near Fair Haven Conn.,, culling oysters for planting al Roellaway, L. I. Last week their boat Kansas City sailed with 1,20O bushel. of oysters aboard.
 Pacific coast oysters reach an aver age size similar to the proportions O
 a walnut. Their feature is their fla
 vor. It is found by transplantin( eastern seed to western waters the oys
 ter acquires the Pacific flavor and re-
 tains the eastern magnitude.-Nev l York F,iahino Gazeffa