CONNECTICUT: COAST TOWNS WEST OF NEW HAVEN. 337 



iiieu for 35 or 40 cents a bushel. Smaller mixed stuff sometimes sells for 20 ceuts. There are only 

 two or three sail-boats devoted to this work. 



"The first efforts at planting were made hi the mill-pond east of the village a pond of salt 

 water about 40 acres in extent. The bottom of this pond is a soft mass of mud, not barren, clayey 

 mud, but a flocculent mass of decayed vegetation, &c., apparently inhabited through and through 

 by the microscopic life, both vegetable and animal, which the oyster feeds upon. Although the 

 young oysters placed there sank out.of sight in this mud, they were not smothered, on account of 

 its looseness, but, on the contrary, thrived to an extraordinary degree, as also did their neighbors, 

 the clams and eels, becoming of great size and extremely fat. Ten years ago oysters from this 

 pond sold for $3 a bushel, and for one lot $16.50 is said to have been obtained. Before long, how- 

 ever, a rough class of loungers began to frequent the pond, and the oysters were stolen so fast that 

 planting there has almost wholly ceased, and prices have greatly declined. 



"Something over 500 acres of oyster ground have been set apart in the waters of the sound 

 belonging to Westport. This ground lies in the neighborhood of Sprite's, Hay, Calf-pasture, and 

 Goose Islands. Two-thirds of it is owned by Norwalk men and other non-residents, and therefore 

 the town has derived no revenue of consequence from it. 



"The principal planter in town is Mr. Eli Bradley, who gave me the most of the information 

 obtained here. He has been long engaged in the business, and has planted many thousands of 

 bushels of seed upon his beds, as also have his neighbors ; but there has been so much litigation 

 concerning boundaries, so much actual thieving, and so incessant persecution by the starfishes and 

 drills, that not much has been realized. Last year (1879) no oysters whatever of consequence were 

 placed in the market from these beds. Outsiders, however, shifted certain oysters into Westport 

 waters temporarily and saved a good crop, the figures relating to which appear elsewhere. All the 

 residents at Westport assert strongly the extreme suitability of their ground for successful oyster- 

 raising, barring the damages inflicted by the starfishes, which they think they can keep free from 

 with sufficient labor. 



"SOUTH NORWALK. Just eastward of Eowaytou lies the city and harbor of South Norwalk, 

 one of the most important oyster-producing localities in Long Island Sound, as well as one of the 

 ' oldest.' The bay at the mouth of the Norwalk River is filled with islands, which protect the 

 shallow waters from the fury of the gales. This whole bay, in old days, was full of native oysters 

 from the sound all the way up to Norwalk itself. Long before the elaborate means for growing 

 oysters at present in vogue were thought of, therefore, Norwalk supplied the people of that region 

 with fine, large, natural oysters, just as it had for centuries been a store-house of shell-fish food to 

 the Indians, the remains of whose feasts and feasting places are still to be found. 



"About forty years or more ago, however, the natural beds in the vicinity of Norwalk Harbor 

 had become so depleted that they no longer afforded to anybody employment that amounted to 

 anything; nor was it until toward the year 1850 that any transplantation of seed, or anything in 

 the shape of the propagation, was attempted. The business of oyster-growing here therefore, 

 which at first sight seems of immemorial age, is only about thirty years old. The history of its 

 growth need not be given here. It will be sufficient to publish the statistics I have accumulated 

 in regard to the present status of the business at this point. 



"The principal planters and shippers at South Norwalk (with which I include its suburb, 

 Village Creek) are the Hoyt Brothers, Graham Bell, Oliver Weed, C. Eemsen, Eaymond & Saun- 

 ders, Peter Decker, the Burbauks, and several others who raise more than 1,000 bushels a year. 

 In addition to these there are many men who have small beds which they keep increasing as fast 

 as circumstances permit, and who make a part of their living by working at wages for planters 

 32GRF 



