OYSTER CULTURE IN AMERICA. 763 



in 1879 it had fallen to 90 or 95 cents. In 1865 the pro- 

 duct of the State was 71,894 bushels, while in 1879 it was 

 660,500 bushels. 



The area which was used for planting in 1879 was 

 only 962 acres, yet this area paid 6,582.90 into the State 

 Treasury; it employed a capital of over 1,000,000; it 

 paid $125,000 in wages to the people of the State ; it fur- 

 nished the market with 660,500 bushels of oysters, with 

 680,500 to the producers, and it gave support to 2400 



persons. 



OYSTER FARMING IN AMERICA. 



The American system of oyster farming, which presents 

 some features of resemblance to the French system, and 

 also many diiferences, has grown up as the result of private 

 enterprise, without any help or any direct encouragement 

 from government. 



The French people are generally held to be the origin- 

 ators of modern oyster farming, but as an American I take 

 pleasure in pointing out that our own industry, which is 

 now so extensively developed in Connecticut, has not been 

 borrowed from France, but has grown up independently. 



Several years before Coste and De Bon commenced 

 their experiments, the oystermen of East River, having 

 observed that young oysters fastened in great numbers 

 upon shells, which were placed upon the beds at the 

 spawning season, started the practice of shelling the beds, 

 in order to increase the supply ; and in 1855, or three years 

 before Coste represented to the French Emperor the im- 

 portance of similar experiments, the State of New York 

 enacted a law to secure to private farmers the fruits of their 

 labour, and a number of persons engaged in the new 

 industry on an extensive scale. 



