DEEP-WATER OYSTER CULTURE. 275 



ground, in the month of July, from 10 to 20 times as many bushels of clean oyster 

 shells or other hard, clean substance, such as broken stones, tiles, etc. 



Upon this 1,000 acres we will suppose that we plant 500,000 bushels of shells, 

 and by the end of July, in the climate of Connecticut, we begin to look with our mag- 

 nifying glasses for the first appearance of the young oysters, which we shall hope 

 have attached to the shells or other "cultch," which we have provided for them. 



In some favorable years, the attachment or " set," as it is called, is very plenty, 

 and most of the shells which are planted are well covered with the little oysters. In 

 other years the u set" is very light, or an entire failure. Such was the case in 1889; 

 due, as I believe, to the great amount of rain which fell in July, chilling the surface 

 of the water suddenly and thus destroying the floating embryos. 



In case the season is unfavorable and there is not an adequate quantity of the 

 young set upon the shells, it will be necessary to replant the ground another year; 

 but before doing so, it is desirable to catch up most of the shells previously planted 

 and let them remain upon land for several months, for after they have been planted 

 for a month or two, they have very little value for catching the " set," as they become 

 coated with more or less sediment and vegetable growth, and are not available unless 

 cleaned in some way. 



After attaching, the oyster grows very rapidly and reaches in the fall about the 

 size of a finger-nail, varying much, however, in the different localities and in different 

 seasons. 



When oysters are 1 or 2 years old, if there is an unusually large crop, it is 

 necessary to catch a portion of them and transplant them to other grounds, so that 

 they may have room to grow without crowding. If crowded they do not grow in good 

 shape. Those experienced in the industry sometimes transplant large quantities of 

 oysters from one kind of ground to another, for the purpose of improving their shape 

 and making them fatter when marketed. 



But the dangers to the life of the little oysters are by no means over when the 

 attachment occurs, especially while they are still small. Vast quantities are destroyed 

 by starfish, drills, storms, mud, sand worms, etc. The starfish has been the oyster's 

 greatest enemy, but the drill is becoming even more destructive. The little starfish 

 attach temporarily to the shells at about the same time that the young oysters do, and 

 begin immediately to prey upon them. As they become older the starfish move in 

 armies, as the grasshoppers and locusts do on land; an army of them will destroy 

 thousands of bushels of oysters in a few days. I estimated the destruction of a crop 

 of oysters planted by myself in 1882 at $90,000 in six months, while $9,000 were spent 

 in the same period in catching the starfish which were doing the mischief. 



For catching starfish, contrivances called "tangles" or u mops" are used, which 

 consist of frames of iron attached to chains, which are dragged by the oyster steamers. 

 To these frames of iron are attached about 20 small ropes, to which large bunches of 

 coarse cotton-thread waste are fastened. As these " mops " are drawn over the beds, 

 ,the starfish become entangled in the meshes of the cotton thread, and after a few 

 minutes dragging are pulled to the surface by steam power; one drift of a few minutes 

 sometimes catching as many as 1,200 or 1,500 starfish on a single " mop." 



The common sand worm, Sabellaria vulgaris, is occasionally found in sufficient 

 numbers to destroy a whole bed of young seed oysters. This is simply because in 



