MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 397 



things arranged for them, till they are large enough to be 

 safely planted out in suitable beds. When it is known that 

 a large female oyster will produce about 60,000,000 eggs, it 

 will be at once imagined how small a proportion of them 

 ever grow into oysters that come to a market. When in a 

 state of nature most of them are swept away in the salt 

 water unfertilized, and the others are for a long time defence- 

 less, subject to destruction by every variety of marine ene- 

 mies ; but if they can be preserved in their tender infancy 

 the increase can be controlled to an almost limitless amount, 

 and safely and economically transplanted to suitable beds, 

 where they will rapidly grow. 



There is a number of ponds on the southern shore of the 

 island and some on the northern, admirably adapted to the 

 planting and cultivation of oysters, when they can be fur- 

 nished as readily, as safely and as cheaply as Prof. Baird 

 thinks they can be from his Station. 



These ponds, separated from the ocean by only a few feet 

 or rods of a sand bank, are very suitable for this purpose, 

 having a sandy bottom, fed by fresh water from the land 

 side, which can readily be made salt enough by cutting chan- 

 nels through the narrow sand banks into the ocean three or 

 four times a year, with a few days work of men and teams, 

 through which at high tide the salt water will flow in, suffi- 

 cient to make the water brackish enough for the oysters, — 

 to furnish them food and lime for their shells, and to bring 

 the water to the specific gravity of 1.010 to 1.020, the 

 proper range for oyster culture. Oysters bred in these ponds 

 would have a great advantage of freedom from their worst 

 enemies, the star-fish and the drum, which would not be 

 likely to get into the ponds, and if they did, the water would 

 be too fresh for the dreaded star-fish to live in. These ponds 

 being comparatively shallow, the oysters would probably 

 grow and fatten very rapidly. 



It seems probable to me that before long the people of the 

 Vineyard may be able to export many thousands of bushels 

 of oysters of good quality, grown at a comparatively small 

 expense. 



The whole character of the eastern end of the island has 

 been changed within a few years, having become a place of 



