1566 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 544
Section 135B. The Conservation Commission of Maryland

t,1

is authorized to select and reserve for a period not exceeding
two years for oyster conservation and propagation any portion
or portions of the depleted natural beds, bars and rocks of the
Chesapeake Bay or its tributaries not to exceed in the aggre-
gate one thousand acres, and to give notice thereof in the
manner stated in Section 132, and to transplant thereon seed
oysters, shells, or other cultch, or to propagate seed oysters,
or for the purpose of protecting the catch of young growth
of oysters, or for rehabilitating any depleted natural beds, bars
or rocks in the Chesapeake Bay and tributaries; provided,
however, that before any ground shall be set aside by the Con-
servation Commission of Maryland for experimental purposes
under tKis Act, the said Commission shall select five oystermen
of the immediate vicinity of the portion of the natural bars,
beds, and rocks to determine whether the ground is depleted.
Any person catching oysters upon such area without permis-
sion from the Commission shall be guilty of a misdemeanor
and subject to the penalties prescribed in Section 132.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted by the General Assembly
of Maryland,, That this Act shall take effect from June lstr
1922.

Approved April 13th, 1922.

CHAPTER 544.

AN ACT to repeal Chapter 554 of the Acts of the General
Assembly of Maryland, Session of 1920, entitled "An Act
to make valid deeds, mortgages, bonds of conveyances, bills
of sale and all other conveyances of real and personal prop-
erty, or of any interest therein or agreements relating there-
to, defective in acknowledgment or in the certificate thereof,
or when the official character of the officer taking the acknowl-
edgment has not been stated in the body of the certificate
or certified to, as required by law, or when the conveyance
or agreement has not been witnessed or sealed, or when any
deed heretofore made to or from a corporation prior to the
payment of bonus tax which was afterwards paid, or any
mortgage or assignment of mortgage defectively swom to or
not sworn to at all."

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary-
land, That Chapter 554 of the Acts of the General Assembly