64 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



tongs, collected all along the shore, where a crowd of women and children assembled to see the fun. Every sort 

 of craft was prepared for action. There were sharines, square-enders, skifls, and canoes, and they lined the 

 whole margin of the river and harbor on each side in thick array. As the ''witching hour" drew near, the meu 

 took their seats with much hilarity, and nerved their arms for a few moments' vigorous work. Xo eye could see the 

 great face of the church-clock on the hill, but lanterns glimmered upon a hundred watch-dials, and then were set down, 

 as only a coveted minute remained. There was a hush in the merriment along the shore, an instant's calm, and then 

 the great bell struck a deep-toned peal. It was like an electric shock. Backs bent to oars, and paddles churned the 

 water. From opposite banks navies of boats leaped out and advanced toward one another through the darkness, as 

 though bent upon mutual annihilation. " The race was to the swift," and every stroke was the mightiest. Before the 

 twelve blows upon the loud bell had ceased their reverberations, the oyster-beds had been reached, tongs were 

 scraping the long-rested bottom, and the season's campaign upon the Quinepiac had begun. In a few hours the 

 crowd upon some beds would be such that the boats were pressed close together. They were all compelled to move 

 along as one, for none could resist the pressure of the multitude. The more thickly covered beds were quickly 

 cleaned of their bivalves. The boats were full, the wagons were full, and many had secured what they called their 

 " winter's stock" before the day was done, and thousands of bushels were packed away under blankets of sea-weed 

 in scores of cellars. Those living on the shore, and regulai'ly engaged in the trade, usually secured the cream of the 

 crop. They knew just where to go first; they were better practiced in haudhug boats, rakes, etc.; they formed 

 combinations to help one another. That first day was the great day, and often crowds of spectators gathered to 

 witness the fun and the frequent quarrels or fights that occurred in the pushing and crowding. By the next day 

 the rustic crowd had departed, but the oysters continued to be sought. A week of this sort of attack, however, 

 usually sivfficed so thoroughly to clean the bottom, that subsequent raking was of small account. Enough oysters 

 always remained, however, to furnish spawn for another year, and the hard scraping prepared a favorable bottom, 

 so that there was usually a fair supply the next season. It was not long, however, before the old-fashioued large 

 oysters, "as big as a shoe-horne," were all gone, and most of those caught were too small for market. Attention was 

 therefore turned to the cultivation of oysters, and as the Chesapeake trade declined, this subject began to receive 

 more and more earnest attention, and to arouse an unexpected opposition upon all sides. 



Legal allot^text of plax'tixg-geouxds. — The laws of the state pro\ided for the setting apart of tracts 

 of land under water for the planting or cultivating of oysters. The position and amount of these tracts that were to 

 be set apart were left to the judgment of the people of each town, who chose a committee of three to fl.ve electors, 

 termed the oyster-ground committee, to act in such matters. Two restrictions, however, were always jealously 

 insisted upon : first, that no " natural oyster-beds" should be set apart or '' designated" (the legal term) for purposes 

 of planting or cultivation ; second, that no more than two acres should be allotted to each appUcant. AU the early 

 designations made in Xew Haven harbor, therefore, were in the shallow districts near and below the mouth of the 

 Quinepiac, where no natural beds existed, and the allotments were of various sizes. They were owned by women 

 and minors as weU as by voters, and thus it was possible for a citizen who cared to do so, to acquire for his use 

 several acres, being those taken out in the name of his wife, his sons, and even of his relatives of remote degrees. 

 Moreover, it was permitted to assign these rights and privileges; but any one who applied for grants of laud 

 "for the purpose of speculation", was guilty of a misdemeanor. It was thus an easy matter for a man who 

 desired to cultivate native oysters extensively, to get under his control a large amount of land, through assignments 

 from family and friends; nor, in the great majority of cases, was any money consideration given for such 

 assignments. It soon became common, indeed, for an application to be made by "A, B, and others", a score or 

 more, perhaps, everybody understanding that while the "others" were actual inhabitants of the town, they had 

 no intentiou of making any personal use whatever of the privileges. This, of course, was an evasion of the law, 

 which practically amounted to its annulment, yet no one objected, for the spirit of the statute was not considered 

 to have been broken ; perhaps it ought to be said, no one objected at first, for within the last few years there has 

 been loud murmuring against the largest dealers, who have obtained the control of hundreds of acres, and who have 

 found it necessary to secure amendments and additions to the laws in order to make their titles sure and strong. 



Okigix of oystek-plantlng ev Long Islaxd soojd. — It will be understood by this, that> the business of 

 catchiug and cultivating native, home-bred oysters at Xew Haven had grown, out of the old haphazard condition, 

 into a definite and profitable organization by the time the last decade began. It was not long before all the 

 available inshore bottom was occupied, and the lower river and harbor looked like a submerged forest, so thickly 

 were planted the boundary stakes of the various beds. Encroachments naturally followed into deeper water, and 

 this proceeded, until finally some adventurous spirits went below the light-house and invaded Long I.sland sound. 



Who was the originator and pioneer in this bold move is undecided ; the honor is claimed by several with about 

 equal right. At any rate Mr. H. C. Rowe first showed the courage of his opinions enough to take up some hundreds 

 of acres outside, in water from 25 to 40 feet in depth, and to begiu there the cultivation of native oysters. 



Incessantly swept by the steady and rapid outflow of the Quinepiac and Housatouic (whose current flows 

 eastward), the hard sandy bottom of Long Island sound, off New Haven aud Milford, is kejjt clean throughout a 

 considerable area, beyond which is soft, thick mud. There are reefs and rocks scattered about, to be sure, and 



