298 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



soil so long that the extremities, garnished with small branches, are two 

 feet at least above the level of the highest tide. Similar poles divide 

 the entire ground into squares of from twelve to fifteen yards at the 

 side. These divisions, obligatory in most of the States, serve to indi- 

 cate the exact position of the plantations, facilitate their surveillance 

 by the police or coast-guard, and accelerate the labor of gathering. The 

 poles are so flexible that they do not endanger vessels which may acci- 

 dentally run against them. 



The oysters are planted annually, from the 1st of March until the 1st 

 of May, when the work generally ends. The vessels which bring them 

 from the Chesapeake, the Delaware, or any other place of production, 

 are, for the most part, schooners of 100 or 150 tons burden, which carry 

 from 3,000 to G,000 bushels of mollusks. When they reach their desti- 

 nation the oysters are delivered to the planters, who carry them to the 

 beds, and distribute them as regularly as possible. The latter operation 

 is of great importance, since if planted too closely together the mollusks 

 will interfere with each other. The planting is done in the following 

 manner : The men intrusted M T ith the work load the oysters into long 

 flat-boats, and carry them at high tide to the plantations. They station 

 the boat over the center of each of the squares mentioned above in turn, 

 and by means of a large shovel, or pitch-fork having twelve teeth, throw 

 the oysters around them by a circular movement, very much like that 

 of the farmer in sowing wheat. This is probably the origin of the term 

 "planting" or "sowing" oysters. When the cargo of oysters is ex- 

 hausted, the mollusks are regularly distributed at the bottom of the 

 sea, in order that they may not injure each other. This part of the 

 work, which is accomplished by rakes, is much more easily effected on 

 ground which is sometimes exposed by the receding tide than in places 

 always covered by the water.* 



As I have already said, the oysters fatten and greatly increase in size 

 in good plantations, and even change considerably in taste. No longer 

 impeded in their development, the shells become more regular, spread, 

 and have a more rounded form. In places where they are always cov- 

 ered by water, and there is no fear of their being frozen, they are fre- 

 quently allowed to grow for several years, in order to obtain very large 

 specimens. In localities, on the contrary, where the severity of winter 

 would be sure to destroy them, on the exposed ground where they are 

 cultivated, they are allowed to remain only during the warm season, 

 and are taken up before cold weather commences. In any case they 

 remain at least three months on the ground before they are used, other- 

 wise the benefit of culture would be lost. About fifty bushels of mol- 



* The position of the oyster upon the ground is of no importance, provided the deeper 

 valve is uppermost. I have observed several times in the bay of New Haven a curi- 

 ous phenomenon. When the oyster happened to rest upon this valve, the growth was 

 affected in such a manner that the edges of the shell turned upward toward the sur- 

 face of the water, as it" the animal thus endeavored to obviate the danger arising from 

 its abnormal position. 



