The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-03-25

N 24.-lnOuSh admitting tnat
Nj the oyster season which Will
close Saturday on the pub
lie bottoms has been the most
disastrous since the winter of 1865,
planters and tongmen are far apart
on the vital question which concerns
the future welfare and protection Of
great. but vanishing industry. Re-
naming here to the last with the
hope of striking neglected patch.
the vagabond fleet of negro oyster
boats hoisted sails to-day and beat
out toward the far inlets of the bay.
never to return. They have stripped
pickaninnies would rob blackberry
bush.
Negligence of Commonwealth.
Carrying Goals to Newcastle was not
unlike the conditions revealed yes
terday. when Connecticut planter.
with a cargo OF seed oysters, sailed
Into Hampton to sell them to local
planters who could not procure them
at home.
This may sound and seem ridicu-
lous, and SO 1t Is. yet IL merely serves
TO emphasize the negligence of the
Commonwealth which has permitted
these things to come to pass. Virginia.
once the mother of the industry, must
buy seed from Connecticut or Mary
land. or else discard its vessels. It's
packing houses and its invested
wealth.
The cause of this distressing situa-
tion is not hard to find. The thou
sands OF acres embraced in what is
known as the Baylor survey. to be
held by the State for the benefit of
the entire people, are the legitimate
prey of the tongmen. They can In
x,,fn ,,t,, l.. yi,a
oysters from the rocks and sell them.
So gradual and steady has been this
drain that the beds are empty. An
abominable law denies to every cit
izen the right to plant and replenish.
That is the story In word. oysters
can no moro grow without the fos-
tering aid of the planter than one
crop OF grain can voluntarily spring
from the fields from which another
crop was harvested the autumn be-
fore.
Learned From Experience.
But the tongmen have learned from
bitter experience that the oyster rocks
of the State have at last reached
a period where they will no longer
yield a living. Long suffering and
bountiful have they been, but con-
tinuous and unremitting attacks by
man and nature have proved too much
LOT tH9lT OHC6 lHdINeicuS CdpdCilS' anu
like the camel that fell Under the
last straw. they have given up the
unequal battle. Oystermen in Vir-
Einia. planters, packers, tongers and
vessel owners have experienced a ter
rible year. The scarcity of the fine
food product has well-nigh ruined
many of them, with the outlook for
pnother season more discouraSinS than
that which is dragging on toward III;
- l. ,fO,-t
WHO have gone away will be bold
enough to attempt to follow the buai-
uess again.
That this lamentable change should
come a. time when the laboring man
particularly needs work is deplorable.
but there had to be day of reckoning
When the debt. created by years of
waste and extravaganza, must be paid.
And more pathetic than all is the fact
that the General Assembly. because OF
ignorance, perhaps, has failed to pass
laws by which the industry might be
saved
Meanwhile. appropriations have been
increased to guard the beds. but it is
not necessary to send guards here to
trail the pirates. Pirates must seek
new quarters when there is nothing to
steal. The only hope OF salvation must
come from the breaking of the Baylor
survey, which will mean that beds may
be leased to planters who will bring
them back from poverty to affluence
and wealth.
A fair and comprehensive investign-
tion will unquestionably show tits
to be true. Oyster culture is not
different from the, science of land
farming; crops must be cultivated, and
so must the beds upon which tho
!lttle bivalves catch in microscopic
In har n Il,p.to
the mud and sand upon which they
can grow and gather strength. The
conditions hereabout are the same a )
those prevailing In, the forests. Saw
mill people have cut down the trees
without planting others; tongers have
actually robbed these waters, with
the knowledge OF the State. without
returning the shells and seed to per.
petuate tte supply.
Conditions Revealed.
Sent here with the one instruction to
go over the grounds and find out the
truth, the writer spent two days In
cruise around the mouth Of the James,
The greatest producing stream In
Virginia. TO one who has never sailed
over these waters to study there is a
revelation In store, Along the coast of
ehe James where 1000 craft once piled
IN March. less than 100 could be seen,
They We're not working. They were
swinging at anchor hard by the land
with flags fluttering from their mast
heads. thus advertising that they We're
In the market for seed. In the course
pf two days journey this correspon-
dent found three tongmen and two
Nredgess the latter working on plant
Id ground Just outside the survey.
From the $4,000 acres OF public
grounds In the James, free to tho
tongers, but denied to the cultivator,
there is not much of an output. This
land could be leased for profitable
sum, from 81 to $4 an acre, 1T would
revive the old Industry, give employ