55 



has been removed to new bottoms the total area covered will often 

 increase the size of the plant by a third or more. 



In the artificial cultivation of oysters, just as in the culti- 

 vation of any crop that grows on land, the greater amount of 

 work done on the plant the greater will be the return from the 

 crop; and there ought to be no more necessity of impressing 

 on the "oyster farmer" the importance of working his plant 

 than to tell the agriculturist that to assure a good yield of 

 cotton or cane it is necessary to do more than to plant the seed 

 and wait for the time of harvest. 



The oyster industry in the waters about Long Island Sound 

 has been built up to its present proportions by the attention given 

 to the planted areas, and if a great and productive industry of 

 this kind is to be built up in the waters of this State, it is abso- 

 lutely essential that the oystermen be impressed with the neces- 

 sity of looking carefully after the well-being of their plants. 



"When it is impossible to give the beds the attention they 

 should have, much may be accomplished by the simple practice 

 of drawing over the beds some heavy instrument like a dredge 

 or even a heavy iron harrow. Some of the oysters will, no doubt, 

 be killed by this method, but many of the others will be released 

 from the confinement of their crowded condition and will as- 

 sume their normal shape. The improved condition of the oysters 

 which are not injured in this process will more than compensate 

 for any loss that may take place at the time of the breaking 

 apart of the clusters. 



FATTENING, PLUMPING. 



The only method of fattening — so called — generally used in 

 this country is one that does not actually fatten the oysters, but 

 only gives them an appearance of plumpness which adds to 

 their value in the market. The oysters are taken from the 

 beds where they have been grown and transferred to some 

 place where the water is fresher. Here they become bloated to a 

 considerable extent through the interchange of fluids between 

 the oyster and the surrounding water. This adds nothing to 

 the oyster; but rather tends to extract some of the nutritive 

 materials from its body and to injure the flavor. Since the 

 demand is for the plumped oysters and their value is increased 



