228 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



Milford Hcurbor. — On the tidal flats in ]\Iilford Harbor 900 bushels 

 of oyster shells were planted in wire bags and 1,000 bushels of loose 

 shells were scattered over the bottom. The bags were made of chicken 

 wire, of 2-inch mesh, having a capacity of 1 bushel. Two types of 

 bags were used — one, cylindrical in shape, 36 inches long and 12 

 inches in diameter, and the other, pyramidal in shape, with a wooden 

 bottom 12 inches square, which adapts them for planting shells on 

 soft-mud bottoms. Three hundred bushels of the shells were put out 

 in the latter type of container, which was designed by Capt. Charles 

 E. Wheeler, manager of the Connecticut Oyster Farms Co. 



A representative sample of 14 bushel of shells was taken from more 

 than 25 of the bags, and the number of oyster spat per shell was 

 counted. The results obtained are as follows : 



1. An average of 2,450 oyster spat was collected in the cylindrical 

 bags and of 1,500 spat in the pyramidal type. 



2. An average of 9 spat per shell was caught, giving the crop 

 commercial value. 



3. The maximum number of spat attached to a single shell was 50. 



4. The set was distributed very evenly in the bags, and over 95 per 

 cent of the shells had spat attached to them. 



5. The number of spat collected in the bags varied from 1,500 to 

 3,500, .according to their location in the harbor and position in relation 

 to low-water mark. 



In comparison with the commercial practice of scattering shells 

 over the bottom, the bags proved to be far superior and collected over 

 twice as many seed oysters per bushel and over ten times as many 

 for a giA'en area of bottom. By staclring the shell bags in tiers, as 

 many as 20 bushels of shells can be planted per square yard, de- 

 pending on the depth of the water and the zone in which setting takes 

 place. Experiments of this kind were made in Great South Bay, 

 Long Island, where 150 bags were planted in tiers of six in water 

 8 to 10 feet deep. Virtually every shell caught a set, and most of 

 them were well covered with from 50 to 100 spat. The successful use 

 of the shell bags in this body of water is significant, because it has 

 demonstrated a practical method for fully utilizing the heavy sets 

 that occur here, and especially for keeping them alive by elevating 

 them above the bottom. Another important feature of this method 

 is that the shells in the bags are kept cleaner and offer nearlj^ twice 

 as much surface per shell or per bushel as those scattered on the 

 bottom. 



Onset Harhor. — The method of planting shells in wire bags in- 

 stead of scattering them over the flats Avas tested in Onset Harbor. 

 Nine hundred and fifty bags similar in shape and size to those used 

 in Milford were set out at various places near and on the established 

 shell beds and in localities where it was impossible for shell beds to 

 be maintained. The bags were placed singly on the bottom, stacked 

 six or eight to a group, and piled irregularly in places where the 

 current was strong. 



At the end of the summer they were in as good condition as when 

 planted and the set had penetrated to the deeper shells. About 90 

 per cent of the shells in a bag had spat, although the deeper shells 

 bore only a few, but nevertheless a commercial number. An average 

 number of 6,000 spat per bushel was found in the bags and about the 



