240 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



problem prevented success until 1900, when the honor 

 of having won the first and only solution was claimed by 

 the Rhode Island Commission at Wickford. Since the 

 discovery of the principle, it has taken five years of slow 

 and tedious experiments to develop the scheme to the 

 point where it is practical and economical. Nearly 50 per 

 cent of the larvse have been reared from the first to the 

 fourth stages of development in lots of 20,000 by the 

 Rhode Island Commission. At the fourth stage the fry 

 begins to burrow and are able to care for themselves. The 

 value of the Rhode Island experiments is better appreci- 

 ated when it is understood that the best result in Europe 

 was 6.6 per cent, starting with 1,500 fry in the second 

 stage; and in this country 21 per cent, from an estimated 

 3,000 fry in the first stage at the government hatchery at 

 Woods Hole, Massachusetts. 1 



THE OYSTER. 



The oyster industry of the country belongs properly to 

 the region of the Delaware and Chesapeake bays. The 

 industry in New England has always been, until recently, 

 a small part of the oyster fishery of the country. It has 

 already been shown in a previous chapter how the industry 

 was carried on in New England previous to the Civil War; 

 and how a trade developed in transporting oysters from 

 the Chesapeake to be laid down in northern waters to 

 await further growth or a more favorable season before 

 being placed upon the market. This trade was interrupted 

 and destroyed by the opening of active hostilities. 



The business was resumed after the restoration of peace- 

 ful relations between the two sections of the country, and 

 seems to have been carried on as usual until about the 



i Annual Report of Commissioners of Inland Fisheries, Rhode 

 Island, 1906, pp. 122 and 123. 



