32 



establishment of true artificial ones for the rearing of seed and 

 adults. I have placed these suggestions together in a second 

 division because they cannot be carried out without further observ- 

 ations and experiments, nor unless markets are developed and 

 capital invested. 



While the observations made on the oysters in the Calcasieu 

 River, and on the conditions of life to which they are subjected 

 by uncontrollable factors, show that oyster culture in its widest 

 sense would be a verv uncertain and risky undertaking, they also 

 show that Calcasieu Pass is most admirably suited for the capture 

 of seed oysters. The fact that oysters grow in a given locality 

 does not prove that this locality is a fit place in which to cultivate 

 them, but since they do grow in Calcasieu Pass in spite of the 

 many untoward conditions to which they are subject, there is no 

 reason why they should not be taken advantage of to the utmost. 

 This utmost advantage I conceive to be the collection and trans- 

 portation to more favorable localities of the abundant offspring 

 which are yearly produced by these oysters and yearly allowed to 

 waste. As has been shown by the plantings made in the river dur- 

 ing the past summer a most unusual amount of spat can be caught 

 there ; and has been shown in the preceding pages, there may be 

 something in the natural conditions of the region which peculiarly 

 fits it for the seed industry. 



The chief problem at present is that of securing a market for 

 the seed. If the artificial cultivation of oysters east of Calcasieu 

 Pass is increasingly practiced year by year, such a market will be 

 a natural development. Its development may perhaps be stimula- 

 ted by immediate experimental proof thaf the purchase of Calca- 

 sieu seed and its transportation to suitable planting grounds Is 

 profitable. 



However, it may be possible to create a market for Calcasieu 

 seed near at hand by the establishment of deep water beds in the 

 Gulf near the mouth of the river. Excepting the possibility of 

 a shifting bottom, yet to be investigated, there is nothing in the 

 Gulf so far as it has been studied, to make deep water beds im- 

 possible, and a number of things give good reasons for expecting 

 success. 



Deep water planting has been carried on with great success in 

 the New England states and elsewhere, where the enterprise of 

 private individuals has proven that natural oyster rocks may be 

 established by artificial means at depths at which oysters do not 

 normally occur in nature. These rocks are truly natural rocks^ 



