OYSTER CULTURE IN LOUISIANA 



The following bulletin is issued with the intention of placing 

 a few facts as to oyster culture plainly before the average 

 oysterman of Louisiana. Many persons undertake the cultiva- 

 tion of oysters without the slightest knowledge of the funda- 

 mental principles that govern the setting of spat, the growth 

 _^of the young oyster, or the methods of marketing. Some oyster- 

 men are highly successful at cultivating oysters and their neigh- 

 bors, only a few hundred yards distant, obtain but poor re- 

 sults from their labors. 



The writing of a short comprehensible bulletin was suggested 

 to the author after having spent nearly two years in the oyster 

 fields of Louisiana and trying to show many of the men the 

 whys and wherefores of their success and failures. The idea 

 of the bulletin being to give suggestions which the average 

 oysterman can turn to practical advantage. A slight knowledge 

 of the life of the oyster ought to help materially in understanding 

 the conditions under which it will develop to the best advantage. 

 For that reason a brief outline of the life of the young oyster 

 from the egg to the adult is here given. 



LIFE HISTORY. 



The American oyster is unisexual, that is, each animal is 

 either male or female, but not both as is the case with the 

 European oyster. When the sexual products are mature, they 

 are cast out into the water; and the eggs are left to chance to 

 become fertilized and to develop. On account of this element 

 of chance, and the fact that the young oyster serves as food 

 for many other animals, the number of eggs produced by each 

 female is enormous, varying according to several estimates from 

 15,000,000 to 90,000,000. The egg must be fertilized before it 

 can develop, and this is accomplished by the union of a sperm 

 cell with an egg. This takes place after the egg from the female 

 and the sperm from the male are cast out into the water. After 



