51 



BRUSH. 



in the very soft places one of the most uniformly successful 

 methods has been to use small brush. The lower ends of the 

 branches are stuck in the bottom so that the greater part of the 

 twigs will be a foot or so above the surface of the mud and away 

 from any danger of being covered up. When the breeding 

 season is over the brush may be taken up and the young oysters 

 separated before they are put on the growing bed. Sometimes 

 this form of clutch is used for making a permanent bed; the 

 supposition being that by the time the brush disintegrates the 

 oysters will have become so large that there will be no danger 

 that they will settle into the bottom enough to become covered 

 up and stifled. 



In some foreign countries, principally Japan, oysters are 

 grown attached to brush until they are ready for market; but 

 as they have to be sold before they have become very large, this 

 practice will probably never become general in this country. 



GRAVEL AND PEBBLES. 



In some sections the oyster men make use of coarse gravel 

 or small pebbles for clutch. This material has the same ad- 

 vantage as the small shells; only a comparatively small num- 

 ber of spat becoming attached to a single fragment. AVhen these 

 materials are to be used it is necessary that the bottom be 

 firmer than for the use of coarse material such as oyster shells. 

 The shape of the individual fragments, as well as their small 

 size, makes them very liable to receive a deposit of sediment 

 sufficient to prevent the settling of spat unless they are in a 

 region where the water is particularly iree from suspended mat- 

 ter of all sorts. On firm bottoms where there are currents of 

 sufficient strength to keep the pebbles clean until the oysters 

 have become attached, this form of clutch offers one of the best 

 means of securing a growth of oysters which will require verv 

 little attention until fully grown; or at least until there is 

 crowding from the presence of the young of a second year 

 which may have settled on those first attached to the clutch. 



Many other materials have been used for catching spat, 

 but most of them cannot be secured in sufficient quantities to 

 bt of practical value in making plants of any extent. In regions 



