PROPOSED IMPROVED METHOD OF CULTURE 



Application of New Knowledge. — In 1904, at Malpeque, P.E.I., 

 during my first summer's work on the development of the oyster, 

 I made discoveries whicli tlirow new light on the possibilities and 

 methods of oyster culture. Up to that time the earliest stages of 

 development were known only from the egg to the young, artificially 

 reared, straight-hinged, shell-bearing larva of nearly twice the diameter 

 of the egg, and representing a period of growth of six days or less, depending 

 upon the temperature. At this stage artificially raised larvae, from want 

 of food or lack of fresh sea-water, die off. The next stage known was 

 the youngest natural spat of at least four times the length of this young 

 conchiferous larva and, as we now know, from three weeks to one month 

 old, reckoning from the time of fertilization. There was a period of two 

 to three weeks in the development of the oyster that was not known — 

 the appearance and organization, the exact time of the year, the place of 

 occurrence, the length of the period and the mode of living, were all un- 

 known. These I determined. 



For a period of three weeks, more or less, according to the temperature 

 of the water, the individuality of the larva, the food supply and other 

 conditions, the young oyster swims about in the water, creeps or rests on 

 the bottom, feeds, grows and develops its organs. During this period it 

 increases to something like one hundred times its cubic contents at the 

 beginning of the period, and becomes correspondingly heavy, strong, 

 more capable and more active. 



The things of importance from the standpoint of oyster culture are 

 to know when, where and how to procure, recognize and observe the larvae 

 during this period, because it is the period immediately preceding spatting, 

 and if we can keep track of their progress throughout this interval we 

 can determine the best time to put out cultch. 



The larvae, as we have seen, may be procured by towing a plankton 

 net behind a boat above or in the region of oyster beds during July and 

 August. Oyster larvae constitute only a small part of the catch and it is 

 necessary to be able to distinguish them. It is possible by examining 

 collections every day or two to follow up the growth of the larvae to the 

 time when they cease their active swimming life and settle on to shells, 

 stones, stakes, or other natural or artificial cultch and become attached 

 as spat or are lost. Throughout this swarming period the larvae 

 are few; at the beginning small, at the end large. For the greater 



