Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-12-22

1
What has brought these bottoms to
this condition? | think II would DO well
to explain before going further: AS
stated above. an oyster rock is form
ed by oysters growing on top of oys-
| tors, the bottom ones being killed
but leaving the smells: nftey many
hundreds of years: thls continual
| process has resulted In the building
up of the rocks, the largest rocks. of
| course. peing where conditions were
most favorable
Now the oystcrmcn bringing IN tho
| oysters from these rocks. brought al
so the shells To which they were at
| tnched. for the little oyster that starts
life floating about with the tide. hay
ing no shell to protect It. must short
~ attach itself to some object that
VIII keep 1t above the bottom or death
| VIII result. and the shells of It's dcnd
friends offered tho desired foothold
consequently unless the oystcrman
was careful enough to knock OF This
shell and return It To the bottom. as
is required by law. he was steadily
ana surely taking away the basis OF
| the rock.
But oysters arc sold by measure
| ana smell VIII measure rs much MS
an oyster so when the aoystcrmnn
FOUND me demand for his product had
reached point where the buyer did
not complain II the shells were lori
on. he let them remain MS Knocking
thcm on meant extra labor and short
or measure: he even went beyond this
when pos siblc and nut I'm nil tho
shells he caught, whether oystors
were attached to them or not, II made
no difference to him so long as the
oysters were salable.
fon might well ask why anyone
should Duy this stun. 1t was bought
! largely because the demand was so
great and competition SO Keen that
| u one buyer refused It another could
be found to take IT, these b,,ycrs
DeinE men with capital invested I'm
The oyster business, and To Obtain tho
oysters or else 20 out Of la,s!ness
Thus we see steady reduction M
lhese rocks going on from year to
year until In many cases where largo
rocks had existed, nothing was left but
hard shelly area about ON level
with the surrounding river bottom.
tnen nature stepped in and completed
me iinal destruction In this manner.
fou nave all noticed the big river
turn ms yellow rs clay. when the
spring iroshet came down. and II f.,
probably clay sediment that causes
me coloring. anyway, 1t is this CLAW
scuiheht that does the damage. to tho
Iocks' for tho river especially since
me cutting away of the forests along
,'s banks, brings down every sprlnr
hundreds of tons of dirt. which js do
posl,ed over It's bottoms, 80 You can
readily see how the oyster rock once
reduced to. or nearly to the level of
inc river bottom, Is at once covered
ny blanket of mud. and its usefuI-
ness, in that condition. is forever M
an end a.
There arc many other active enc.
mics OF the oyster freshets. leo
heavy storms, crabs. and fish of many
varieties being some OF them. | shall
not explain how they all worl, 10 tho
oysters injury. but simply point IN
them to show how many causes arc
operating to destroy oysters.
or course so far as the oysterman
was concerned. there were pleutv Of
laws on our Statute books. TO the of.
iect that he should not commits nc,e
INJURIOUS to the rocks. but Won bovo
already been old how he regarded
.nesc laws. so you can readily SEQ
'hat 1t wonld have required great on
erey and expense on the part of tbe
STATE To enforce them: unfortunato,y
un,iI the appointment of the present
anie Board of Fisheries. headed nv
us energetic chairman, Mr.. Lee tho
laws nave been enforced In vorv
lax manner, so that now 1t f. very
.lncn ike locking the stable door af-
'er me horse has gone"
Let us go back, however. To orr In
cal situation. and SEQ what could ho
done with the thirty thousand ocre,
.iorc referred to that nra ucor t;,,s
Guy; OF course this bottom Is NOT oIl
me same ly any means. hut in .rder
10 establish some basis to figure from
VIC WIN assume that ii will average
up ABOUT the same as the usual run of
Sionhu' however, believe I am per-
ieciiy safe in saying that these
'Iouiius should be far above the aver
age Tor nature picks out the nlacos
pest suited for her purposes and This
State. "''' III the
piece OF oyster ground under cul-
tiVation should certainly give an oyer-
age yea'ly return of one hundred dol
,ars' by which | mean that expcndi-
lures Tor labor. freight watching. etc
anu the profitable return of the money
invested should equal that amount
lhese figures are based upon n cron
every TWO years and of course womb
increase proDortionatcly whore Tho
lime required to grow crop was de-
creased; taking these figures as orr
oasis we find that the thirty thou
SAND acres adjacent to this city should