8o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Mr. Conger lias actually resorted to ■warming fresh water to G0° Fahr. in win- 

 ter, by steam-pipes running underneath the wooden inclosure surrounding the 

 "fattening " or "plumping " float. One good "drink," as he expressed himself 

 to me, renders the animals fit for sale and of better appearance. 



Conger's floats are simply a pair of windlasses supported by two pairs of piles 

 driven into the bottom. Chains or ropes which wind upon the windlasses pass 

 down to a pair of cross-pieces, upon which the float rests, which has a perforated 

 or strong slat bottom, and a rim eighteen inches to two feet high. These floats 

 I should think are about eight feet wide and sixteen feet long, perhaps twenty. 

 These structures are usually built alongside the wharves of the packing and ship- 

 ping houses, and are really a great convenience in conducting the work. 



Elsewhere Lieutenant Ryder speaks of the floats thus : 



The diaphragm itself was constructed of boards perforated with auger-holes, 

 and lined on the inside with gunny-cloth or sacking; and the space between the 

 perforated boards was filled with sharp, clean sand. The space between the 

 boards was about two inches ; through this the tide ebbed and flowed, giving a 

 rise and fall of from four to six inches during the interval between successive 

 tides. 



Mr. F. T. Lane, of New Haven, Connecticut, writes as follows 

 about the method of floating practiced by himself, and, as I under- 

 stand, by other New Haven oyster-growers : 



We do not always leave them two days in the floats — as a rule, only one day. 

 TVe put them into brackish water and take them out at low water or in the last of 

 the falling tide, as then the water is the freshest and the oysters are at their 

 best. As it is not convenient for us to put them into the floats and take them 

 out the same day, we do not want the water too fresh. On one occasion, wish- 

 ing to know what the result would be of putting the oysters into water that was 

 quite fresh, I had one of my floats taken up the river, half a mile farther than 

 where we commonly use them, and one hundred bushels of oysters put into it at 

 high water and taken out at low water. They were in the water from six to 

 seven hours and came out very nice, fully as good as those floated twenty-four 

 hours in the brackish water. It was a warm day, and the water was warm. 

 Under these conditions they will drink very quickly. I have seen them open 

 their shells in ten minutes after they were put into the water. 



For the following valuable information I ara indebted to Mr. R. 

 G. Pike, chairman of the Board of Shell-fish Commissioners of Con- 

 necticut : 



Connecticut oysters, when brought from their beds in the salt waters of Long 

 Island Sound, are seldom sent to market before they have been subjected to 

 more or less manipulation. As soon as possible after being gathered, they are 

 deposited in shallow-tide rivers where the water is more or less brackish, and 

 are left there from one to four days; the time varying according to the tem- 

 perature of the season, the saltness of the oysters, and the freshening quality of 

 the water. Generally two tides are snflUcient for the two "good drinks " which 

 the oyster-men say they should always have. 



This "floating," as it is called, results in cleaning out and freshening the 

 oysters, and increasing their bulk ; or, as many oyster-men confidently assert, 



