762 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



OYSTER PLANTING. 



Oyster planting is the placing of small or " seed >! 

 oysters upon bottoms which are favourable to their growth. 

 . . . Planting also adds very greatly to the value of 

 oysters, as they grow more rapidly and are of better quality 

 when thus scattered than they are upon the natural beds, 

 and Ingersoll quotes the statement . . . that thirteen 

 dollars worth of small ''seed'" oysters yielded, after they 

 had been planted for two years, oysters which were sold 

 for $114, besides about thirty bushels which were used as 

 food by the planter's family. Oyster planting can be car- 

 ried on only on private grounds, and it cannot flourish in 

 a community which does not respect the right of the pri- 

 vate owner to the oysters which he has planted. 



. . . . The industry does not require a large 

 capital, and it can be carried on with profit on a very small 

 scale, although the oysters need constant and intelligent 

 attention. In all places where it has been employed it has 

 added greatly to the prosperity of the communities which 

 have engaged in it, and has greatly increased the popula- 

 tion of the shores along which it has been encouraged and 

 protected. 



. . . . The history of the oyster industry of Rhode 

 Island furnishes an interesting illustration of the value of 

 an intelligent system of planting. All bottoms between 

 high-water mark and the ship channel are public property, 

 to be controlled and administered by the State in such a 

 way as to secure the greatest good to the greatest number 



of its citizens The revenue of the State has 



been greatly increased, and it is stated that the rentals of 

 the beds will in time pay all the expenses of the State 



government In 1865 oysters sold for $1.75 



per solid gallon ; in 1878 the price was $1.15 to $1.10, and 



