OYSTERS AND METHODS OF OYSTER-CULTURE. 275 



The rate of growth (plates x, xi, xii, xiii) varies with locality and 

 conditions. It is more rapid when food is abundant and at seasons 

 when the oyster is feeding most vigorously, these conditions being filled 

 most thoroughly in summer and fall, when the warm water increases 

 the vital activities of both oyster and food. 



In South Carolina oysters not more than six or seven months old were 

 found to have reached a length of 2^ inches, and in the warm sounds 

 of North Carolina they reach a length of 1^ inches in from two to three 

 months. In the coves and creeks of Chesapeake Bay they attain about 

 the same size by the end of the first season's active growth, and by the 

 time they are two years old they measure from 2^ to 3| inches long and 

 from 2 to 3 inches wide. On the south side of Long Island the growth 

 of the x^lanted oysters is much more rapid than in Connecticut, it being 

 stated that "two-year plants" set out in spring are ready for use in the 

 following fall, while upon the Connecticut shore it would require two or 

 three years to make the same growth. On the south side of Long Island 

 oysters If inches long in May have increased to 3 inches by November 

 of the same year. 



The amount of lime in the water is a factor in determining the 

 character of the shell, and oysters growing in waters deficient in that 

 respect have thinner shells than those which are well supplied, and are 

 therefore more susceptible to the attacks of the drill. 



The shape of the oyster to a certain extent determines its value in 

 the market. Single oysters of regular shape with deep shells and 

 plump bodies will bring a better price than those which are irregular 

 and clustered. The shape depends largely upon the degree of crowding 

 to which the oyster has been subject. When numerous spat become 

 attached to a single piece of cultch, such as an oyster shell, there is 

 often insufficient room for the development of all. Many will be crowded 

 out and suffocated, while the survivors will be distorted through the 

 necessity of conforming to the irregular spaces between the valves of 

 their fellows. Sometimes the pressure exerted between the rapidly 

 growing shells is sufficient to break up the more fragile forms of cultch, 

 and the separated oysters then usually improve somewhat in shape. 



The crowding of oysters reaches its climax upon the "raccoon" 

 oyster beds. Raccoon oysters are usually found in localities where the 

 bottom is soft and the only firm place which offers itself for the attach- 

 ment of the spat is upon the shells of its ancestors. Temperature and 

 other conditions are favorable, growth is rapid, the young oysters are 

 crowded into the most irregular shapes, the shells are long, thin, and 

 sharp-edged, and eventually the mass of young is so dense that it 

 crowds out and smothers the jireceding generations which produced it 

 and offered means for its attacliment. Oysters crowded in this excessive 

 manner are poor-flavored as well as ill-shaped, but both defects are 

 corrected if they be broken apart, as may be readily done, and planted 

 elsewhere. 



