102 THE FISIIErJES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



pnrcliasc." This looks as if he referred to the well-known j^AcAers, of whom I shall speak later; but he shows that, 

 partially at least, it is seed they buy, for he continues : " The price paid at the time of my visit was about GO cents 

 a bushel for all sizes and qualities mixed. These oysters are carried to Eockaway, Hempstead, and other bays near 

 the west end of Long Island sound, near Captain's island, where they acquire rapidly a better appearance and 

 flavor. The men who simply carry them there to resell to planters, realize a profit of 15 cents a bushel for freight." 



Scarcity of seed and increase of price. — The insufdcieucy of native seed to supply the cultivated beds, 

 complained of this year to a greater extent than ever before, is to be traced mainly to the cause which might long 

 ago have been anticipated, and which has before been so ruinous to our oyster-interests — overfishing. So long as 

 oysters are permitted to gi'ow for a proper time — say till they are four or five years old — before they are raked up 

 for market, so long will they, in favorable places, increase with a rapidity that it would hardly be possible for a 

 scarcity to occur. To an extent safe against ordinary demands, the more an oyster-bottom is "tonged" the more 

 stock will be found. This is due to the fact that constant raking stirs up the bottom, rinses oft' the shells and gravel 

 there, and so pi'ei^ares it to receive the floating spawn. Biit here i^ South bay the oysters gathered for market- 

 use are exceedingly small, many of them not larger than a silver quarter. They have not yet spawned, in most 

 cases, and hence their removal is like digging plants up before they have left any seeds behiiul ; it is destroying 

 the root as well as the brandies of oyster-growth. The seed imported from outside the island is of a diftcrent 

 quality, if not inferior — two opinions exist on this point — not producing stock of iirecisely the flavor esteemed most 

 highly on the South shore, and to which the original Blue Point and Oak Island bivalves owe their high reputation 

 with epicures. Moreover, where formcrlj' seed was to be had for the catching, or bought at 10 to iiO cents a bushel, 

 30 to 60 cents must now be paid for it. Such an outlay at the beginning makes an increase of the selling-price 

 necessary. The shippers are loth to give the increase, since they do not see wherein the profit will retiu-n. Lately, 

 indeed, money has been lost rather than made on oysters from the south side of Long Island, at least upon those 

 grown at the eastern end of the bay, whence the stock is almost wholly sent to Eui-ope. The question, therefore, 

 as to the best way to restore the natural beds to their ancient productiveness, or whether it is possible to induce the 

 formation of new seed-banks, is a Aery important one in this locality, and I endeavored to collect all possible 

 information bearing upon it. 



Kemedies for the exhaustion of the seed-supply. — To begin with:' It appears that there has been no 

 season when there was a wide spread and abundant catch of siiawn and successful growth of young oysters in 

 Brookhaven bay since about 1870. In 1872, it is said to have failed altogether. Every year, liowever, there is more 

 or less spawning observed, and it is the belief of the baymen, that every fourth year this exceeds in quantity the 

 intermediate three years ; but the misfortune is that the spawn seems, year after year, to go to waste, or, if it 

 attaches itself at aU, to be killed by the winter-storms, which stir up and shift the mud of the too shallow bay, or 

 by some other accident. 



It is my opinion, however, that nothing like the required number of adult oysters exist, undisturbed , in Brookhaven 

 bay to supply naturally sufficient seed to keep pace with the accidents of bad weather and the fall-raking. It is a 

 well-known fact, that the oysters upon the transplanted beds do not propagate successfully. Though all the 

 surrounding circumstances seem favorable, the shock they have sustained in being transplanted, or some other 

 reason, limits their spawning ; and if they do emit eggs, there is usually nothing near by for them to catch upon. 

 It is to the wild oysters, then, that the planters must look for the annual renewal of the seed-beds. They are few 

 in number, and every circumstance is against them. 



One source of trouble lies, I believe, in the laws intended to be beneficial, which, perhaps, present the only 

 difficulty in the way of an entire I'estoration of the old productiveness. I consider that the prohibition of dredging 

 is bad policy ; that, on the other hand, dredging should be permitted all the year round, at least half of each week. 

 It seems to me, also, that beneficial effects would follow the opening of the beds to free-fishing in summer, dredging 

 included, and the closing of them, at least for a few years, from the loth of July until the following spring, say up to 

 March 1. The reasons for this have been indicated in ijrevious chapters. The continued raking and dragging 

 of the ground in summer, spreads and thins the thicker beds, keeps the bottom clean, and prepares the shells, 

 grave], and scraps there for the attachment of the spa^rNTi, by turning over and rinsing them, aud this at the very 

 time most necessary, when the oysters are spawning and the eggs are making their brief floating search for a 

 foothold. But having thus been provided with resting i)laces in abundance, over a continually widened area, it is 

 necessary that the disturbance immediately cease and the young oysters be jiermitted to rest entirely quiet, until 

 they have become strong enough to withstand the shock of change to new, private beds. This will not occur until 

 they are at least six months old. The present custom of seed-gathering in the fall saves that which is a year old, 

 but it ruins an enormous quantity of small seed of the year only three months old, which has not grown to 

 sufficient strength to withstand the change. I believe that the only seed which should be removed from its 

 birthplace in the fall, is that which catches on gravel beaches between tide marks or elsewhere, where it would 

 surely be killed by cold during the ensuing winter ; and that the abundance the succeeding spring would more 

 than malie up for the apparent loss of the opportunity at present made use of. If such a course as this were deemed 

 im2)racticable, then would it not be well to adopt a system of raking one part of the bottom one year and another 



