54 



THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



cargoes from the Eappabamiock. Another planter, equally experienced, said these succeeded well enough if 

 brought here and planted before the weather became at all warm. Oj'sters from the St. Mary and Potomac rivers 

 are troublesome, because mixed with many obnoxious mussels, and, besides, they do not grow well, as a rule. 

 Those from Tangier sound are pretty good, and are largely bought. The general verdict, however, is, that the best 

 Virginia oyster for this bay is to be had in the James river. These show the largest growth at the end nf the 

 season, developiug a hard, llinty shell and white meats ; on the contrary, I was told that at Xew Haven, Connecticut, 

 the James river oysters cannot be used at all. But many cargoes are planted here, the exact southern home of 

 which is never known. 



The laying down of soixthern oysters must all be done early in the spring. If they would only survive the 

 voyage as late as June, Mr. Bourne thought that month would be the best time to plant them. When I suggestt'd 

 the use of steamers to expedite the transfer, he said it would not help matters, for the jarring of the cargo, caused 

 by the throb of the engine, would kill the moUusks; he did not even allow any wood to be split on his oyster- vessels, 

 for fear of this species of damage. Of the half a million bushels bedded in Ehode Island yearly, about half are 

 owned in Boston. 



Tkade in Norfolk opened oysters. — During the winter of 1878-'79, the Norfolk opened oysters were 

 brought to Providence in large quantities, by several dealers. The following is a statement of shipments, 

 furnished by the steamship comiiany : 



Ousters shipped from Norfolk to Providence, Rhode Island, via Merchants' and iliners' Transportation Company, during 1H78 and 1879. 



The result of this experiment was so unsatisfactory, however, that the importation of this opened "barrel- 

 stock" has been almost wholly abandoned. What now comes (so it is darkly hinted) is chiefly used to adulterate 

 genuine " Providence rivers". 



21. NATIVE AND SEED-OYSTERS. 



Dearth of young oysters in Ehode Island. — The fattening of Virginia oysters is only half the business, 

 though, perhaps, the most profitable part, in Rhode Island. A vast number of "native" oysters are raised in 

 Nariagauset bay, though but a portion of them are born there. There are oidy a few places in the bay where a 

 "set", as it is called, occurs with any regularity or of any consequence. In the Warren and Barrington rivers it has 

 not happened for twenty years, and the same is true of the whole eastern shore, except Cole's, Kickamuit, and Seekonk 

 rivers. Providence river itself never produces young oysters now, nor does any jjart of the western shore, except 

 Greenwich bay and the ponds in the extreme southern part of the state, deriving their salt water directly from the 

 Atlantic. The cause of this dearth of spawn and seed, where once every shore was populous with it, can only be 

 ascribed, I think, to the antecedent disappearance, through persistent raking, of all the old native oysters. In 

 Cole's river a heavy "set" occurred three years ago, and from 500 to 1,000 bushels are obtained every year. In the 

 Kickamuit, the shores are dotted with infant ostreaj annually, and supply the planted beds there, while old oysters 

 of very good quality are not infrequent. In dredging back and forth throughout the whole extent of Greenwich bay, 

 the scallop-fishers frequently take up large oysters, evidently "to the manor born", and they are now and then seen 

 on the shore-rocks. About 1872 there was a very large " set" here and in Potowomut river, just below. Boats came 

 down from Providence and elsewhere and were filled again and again. But all of the crop left was swept away 

 by starfishes, which were then very abundant, or was biuied beneath drifting sand and wrack, and so no 

 establishment of a natural bed there was possible. If these young oysters were not all picked out of Greenwich 

 bay in the fall, they would live through the winter, even where the ice rested fully upon them at low tide, and 

 would soon repopulate the bay. But now their annual value to any one is insignificant and constantly decreasing. 



The seed-oysters of Seekonk river. — There remains one river, nevertheless, where, under protection, the 

 oysters are able to reproduce regularly every year. This is the Seekonk, which flows down past Pawtucket and 

 Providence, with East Providence on its left, and numerous bridges and small shipping to worry its swift tides. 

 The Seekonk has always been a favorite home of the oyster, and year by year the river contributes its quota to 

 the tougers, through a space from the Wicksbury pier to ueiirly five miles above. This iis due largely to the fact 



