THE OYSTER-INDUSTRY. 77 



Juffust 4. — I can now safely say that tlic spat lias begun to adhere to the shells. I h.ave several very fine specimens. The eggs .at 

 first look (miller the glass) like %'cry fine pearls with a hlack spot, which adheres to the shell and seems theu to break out .and take the 

 form of .an oyster. 



Aiii/iist ."). — I notice today that the young oysters on shells laid down July 31 are as Large and abundant as on the shells laid down 

 July 7 and lU; and, from a careful examiuatiou, I am sure thi' little pearly specks with a black dot, noticed on thi^ shells from, say, July 

 25, were really oysters in their incipient state. On one shell I have counted, with the naked eye, over 20(1 wcU-foruied oysters ; and under 

 the glass they are too numerous to count with certainty. Calm and hot weather, from July 10 to August 10, is necessary to make the spawn 

 mature and adhere to the shells properly. 



August 7.— I have jiroved to-day, to my own mind, that the green spots first seen on the shells laid down early in July are not oyster- 

 spat or spawn. The dark, muddy substance on the shells, I am inclined to think, comes from the oysters and envelops the spawn, 

 protecting it while drifting .around until it becomes fit to adhere to a stool and liiitch out. The eggs, when they leave this covering, look like 

 fine sand, transparent under the glass, with a black dot. I have proved this by opening several oysters on Saturday, August 5, and, after 

 removing the meats, carefully laying the shells down near a stake in the center of a bed of oysters just out of spawn ; to-day, August 7, 

 just 48 hours later, I find on these shells a line "set" of young oysters, some of them just formed, others just attaching themselves and 

 dropping off at the slightest touch. 



I also notice th.at the young oysters which have .att.ached themselves to shells on Black Rock b.ar, and ,aro hardly ten day.i o!d, have 

 an enemy in the small black winkle or snail,* and in the drill, which bores holes in the shell and destroys them by the hundred. 

 August S. — I h.ave decided to put down 600 bushels more oyster-shells, as I liud the water is full of spawn. 



Auijust 9. — Have put down 300 bushels to-day off Black Rock bar, along the edge sand and mud, and 400 bushels to August 9, which 

 finishes spreading shells this year. Total amount .5,190 bushels. .Shells bought at the copper-works have cost us 7 cents laid down. Shells 

 from F.air Haven 2i, and !S cents lioating. equals 7+ eeuts laid down. Shells from oysters opened by our own helji 21 cents laid down. 



August 10. — Have examined careluUy tlie shells laid down July 31, and find an increase in the set, and a very r.apid growth. I find 

 that by opening oysters and laying down the shells, that in three tides we find a set of spat, which proves that the water is now full of 

 spat. I have also noticed that for the first two days after the young oysters have been taken from the water they seem to increase in size. 

 They then die and some drop from the shells. 



I estimate the total amount of bushels now planted as follows : 



Bushelfl. 



Spa\%Ti8 of 1868 planted in 1870, and now doubled by increase 16, '^00 



1868 seed (spawn of 1867) transpl.anted 6,130 



Fort Hale (spawn of 1866), phanted on Bl.ack Rock b.ar 3,225 



Oysters cm beds (spawn of 1869) tr.ansplauted last year I,2!i0 



Fort ditch. Fair Haven, and Cove 1,000 



Young seed on shells of 1870 1, 000 



Total 28,805 



Allowing the growth of this to increase one-fourth th's season, and adding this 7,000 bushels to the 28,805, we have 35,805 bushels of 

 oysters actually growing. To this may be added 5,190 bushels of shells well set, to say nothing of the set on the shells laid down in 1870, 

 which wUl amount to something. The estimate, therefore, sums nxi as follows; 



Bnsbfls. 



Total oysters planted 28, 805 



Increase through growth 7, 000 



Stools and sot 5, 190 



Total property 40,995 



August 19. — The spawning-season is now over, .and I find this year's experience should not advise laying down sheila later than August 

 10 or earlier than .Inly 10. The spawn seems to have drifted in flakes. Some areas have a better set than others. The drills and small 

 black snails are killing the young oysters by the millions, and where it runs bare at low water it is worse. 



September 1. — I notice that where the spat has set on oyster-stakes in the eel-grass, that the grass sweep the young oysters off the 

 stake; but out of the reach of the grass the oysters .ari? solid and reach up within a few inches of the water-snrface at higli tide, and the 

 grass seems to prevent the drill from getting up the stake to the young oysters. Oysters are very poor, except those laid in the sluice. 



September 25. — Wo have caught np, sent to market, and laid on the fiats, about 500 bushels three years old. Oysters over three years 

 old are now large enough for shell-oysters. I saved a specimen of oyster set on a stake, and will next year try brush for the spat to 

 set on. 



Extent op oyster-cttlture ra New Haven. — Out of the .seven or eight thousand aeres "designated" 

 in New Haven harbor and its oftiug, only from .3,000 to 3,500 are in actual use as yet. The hirgest possession is 

 Mr. H. C. Eowe's ; he operates upon about J, 500 acres. Several other planters have from two to six hundred, while 

 many have a hundred acres under cultivation. The major part of this is in deej) water, and is yet regarded to a 

 great extent as an experiment, particularly by those who live in other parts of the state. Thus far the success has 

 been encouraging. One gentleman calculates that he has 200,000 bushels of oysters of all ages on his offshore land. 

 Another planter gives me his estimated wealth as follows: On 70 acres, 75,000 bu.shels, suitable to be .sold as .seed 

 in the .spring of 1880, at an average of 50 cents a bushel ; on 50 acres, shells and a good set ; elsewhere, in one 

 tract, about 3,000 bushels of young -spawners, on which shells are to be thrown ; on another tract, 20,000 bushels 

 of seed useful in 1880; and, lastly, an area holding about 5,000 bushels of "set". A 30-acre lot yielded this firm 

 12,000 bushels in three years, which were sold at 70 cents. 



* Trilia Iriviflata, or perhaps Ilgauaasa obsoleta. No doubt various of the small gasteropods devour incipient oysters and other young 

 mollusks. 



