We therefore plan to work in such a way that, even with the liberal discount that nature will surely apply to our returns, there may be left a real measure of benefit gained without undue cost. Many of the young will be lost from falling upon unsuitable bottoms and from many other unfavorable conditions, such as confront every young mussel in nature with more or less frequency. We would like to remove all of the unfortunate conditions productive of loss, both to the mussels that we put out and to those that are propagated entirely by natural means; but this, of course, is not possible. There are, however, artificial conditions which do injury to the younger mussels, and it is both desirable and practicable to prevent such damage as far as can be done reasonably. RESULTS DEPENDENT UPON PROTECTION. In the regular fishery for mussels the beds are continually dragged over with rakes, tongs, crowfoot hooks, or dredges. It is inevitable that the young mussels will suffer to some extent from this process. It is quite unnecessary, however, for the "infant" mussels, many of them too small for any use at all and many more too small for any economical or proper use in manufacture, to be entirely removed from the beds. Mussels are thus uselessly destroyed that might be left to grow to a size at which they would be both commercially valuable and properly usable; meantime, too, they might take their natural part in the reproduction of the species. Furthermore, it would be desirable to leave portions of the rivers entirely undisturbed by the operations of shelling during periods of some years. This would accomplish a double object--it would leave the best conditions for the natural reproduction of the remnant of the old stock and for the growth of the young mussels and at the same time it would create a series of reserves in which artificial propagation could be carried on with the best conditions for maximum results. In such closed regions the young mussels would have to contend against only the normal unfavorable conditions which all mussels have ever had to withstand, without an added toll of destruction being taken by the direct and indirect effect of the operations of men.