MASSACHUSETTS: BARXSTABLE DISTRICT. 251 



"One wLo is really going into tlic matter hopefully must expect about this outlay before be 

 considers bis grant in condition to yield. If be puts down sbells for tbe spawn to catch upon, as 

 be probably will, it will cost him about 10 cents a bushel. 



"Formerly Virginia oysters were planted and bedded here, but did not do well. Tbe prices 

 received for these oysters, which are all picked over and shipped to Boston in good shape, vary 

 from $3.50 to $G a barrel. In 1S7S, the exports from the Buzzard's Bay station by rail were 138 

 barrels. Up to November 1, 1879, 240 barrels weie sent, making 300 barrels a probable total for 

 that year. Besides this, in 1879, much opening was done by the oystenncn to supply the neigh- 

 borhood market, and about 1,000 gallons of opened oysters were carried by express companies, in 

 small packages. 



" Another oyster locality in the town of Sandwich is Red Brook Harbor, 6 miles south of 

 Monument River. The railway station is Pocasset, on the "Wood's Holl branch of the Old Colony 

 Hue. This harbor is au indentation of Buzzard's Bay, about 1J miles long by one-third of a mile 

 wide, and it is separated from the outer bay by an island. A branch of the harbor, also, runs 

 up to a landing known as Barlowtown. The name Red Brook Harbor is derived from a little 

 stream which flows into it, the bottom of which is tinged with iron-rust; but this brook does not 

 freshen the water to any considerable extent. The bottom of the main part of the harbor is hard 

 sand, and the water is nowhere more than 8 feet deep at low tide. lu some portions rocks and 

 eel -grass exist. 



" On the southern shore of this harbor, about a mile from its head, exists a living bed of 

 natural oysters, some 7 acres in extent, under protection of the town for public benefit. Tbe 

 oysters growing upon it arc reported to be large, but not of extraordinary size, scalloped and 

 roundish, differing in no respect from aged oysters grown after transplanting to another part of 

 the bay. Excepting this natural bed, the whole harbor has been surveyed and divided into grants; 

 all those good for anything have been taken up, and must now be bought at an advanced price, 

 if any one desires to possess them. The largest owner is a Boston firm, reputed to have 75 acres, 

 but beside it are a score of other proprietors, inhabitants of the shores. It is safe to say that 

 $3,500 would buy out all the home interests in the whole tract, and $15,000 cover the total invest- 

 ment up to January 1, 18SO. There is a spirit of progress here, however, which will lead to a great 

 increase in the value of the property within the next few years. During 1878, for example, there 

 were shipped from Pocasset station only 85 barrels; in 1879, 500 barrels. 



" I spent some hours on these grounds with Mr. Edward Robinson, who exerted himself to 

 make my visit instructive. He thought that one-half of the whole water-area was suitable for 

 oyster cultivation, and all of this is now appropriated, though only a portion has yet been stocked. 

 The seed is mainly derived from the native bed in the harbor and from the shores where the native 

 spawn has 'set,' and is planted in the spring and fall. The only outside seed brought in thus far 

 is 300 bushels from the Weeweantit River, across the bay; and 1,000 bushels from Somerset. The 

 latter did not seem to do well. A long, sandy point runs out into the harbor here, which ebbs dry 

 at low tide. This does not come into any grant, therefore, and hence is public ground for the 

 gathering of seed. I saw upon the pebbly beach, in places, how abundantly this was to be had. 

 Young oysters, at this season, from the size of a dime to that of a dollar, were strewed between 

 tide-marks so thickly that you could hardly avoid stepping upon them, and they would survive the 

 winter well in this exposure. These are gathered by everybody who wishes and placed upon their 

 grants. In addition to this, many thousands of bushels of old shells have been laid down, the 

 proper time to do this work being early in July, in order to have their surfaces clear and ready to 



