8l6 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



former, the larger and older the better ; but in the latter 

 case young oysters, from one to two years old, are preferred. 



Generally, any and all oysters are taken without regard 

 to age or size. The oysters for the northern planting 

 grounds are usually taken up as soon as ice clears away, 

 and are used during the spring. Those transplanted in the 

 Sound are taken up later in the spring, or during the early 

 summer or autumn months, and used during the following 

 winter. Blunt-nosed oysters, with thick shells, do not 

 thrive on the planting grounds. A change of bottom in 

 transplanting oysters is not considered of so much import- 

 ance as a change of water. The planted beds should be 

 laid at the mouths of creeks and rivers having a rapid cur- 

 rent. The bottom best for natural beds was considered 

 best for planted ones. 



The spawning season was said to be from May until 

 August, inclusive, though most of the spawning was done 

 in June and July. All opinions coincided that the oyster 

 in shoal water spawned first, but differed as to whether, the 

 depth being the same, all oysters on the same bed spawned 

 at or about the same time, as many being for as against the 

 theory. Currents were said to have no effect upon the 

 spawning. Oysters of one year's growth, three-fourths of 

 an inch long, have been seen with the spawn in them, and 

 oysters on natural beds were thought by the majority to 

 spawn sooner than the planted ones, though there was not 

 much difference. Oysters transplanted with the spawn in 

 them, however, will cease spawning. A wet or warm spring 

 would hasten the time of spawning, but would not shorten 

 its duration. 



. . . . The young were supposed to "strike" 

 every three years, though there was but little regularity 

 about it, a bed sometimes running for ten years with a 



