216 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



as tbough by concerted action, all began to throw out the spawn until all the float was white with it, hiding 

 the bottom beneath a milky cloud. He continued to watch, and in fifteen or twenty minutes the cloud had 

 disappeared, and the few inches of water in the float had resumed its former clearness. 



In the autumn of 1878, about fourteen months after this occurrence, some men begged permission to rake 

 beside the wharf, and found there a solid bank of oysters of small size. There could not be a shadow of doubt, that 

 they were the direct growth of the spawn emitted by the oysters in the float the preceding year, which had sunk 

 straight down, despite the swift current of the out-going tide, unless we are to believe it had floated out iuto the 

 bay and been brought back again — the more difficult alternative of the two, I think. Three hundred bushels were 

 taken of these young oysters under this old float, within a space 100 feet square. 



Preparing beds for the reception of sPAWN.-^It has come to be the wise practice, therefore, in 

 preparing beds of cultch for the catching of si)awn and the rearing of oysters artificially, to place upon the bed 

 of cultch a quantity of adult breeding-oysters called "spawners". These are sometimes placed in a group athwart 

 the tidal current at that place, and sometimes are scattered about the bed promiscuously. The quantity varies, 

 but it is considered that one bushel of spaAvncrs to ten bushels of she'ls or other "stool" is quite enough. 

 Experiments in this practice are alluded to in the preceding chapters on JSTarraganset bay, on New Haven, and 

 on the East river; and it is there shown, that even with these precautions, a planter cannot count on catching any 

 mentionable quantity of spawn more than 20 rods away from his spawners, even in a swift tideway, so soon does 

 it settle or perish. Within this limit, however, the catch of an abundance of infant oysters is almost certain. The 

 elaborate processes of oyster-culture carried on in France and the channel-coast of England, are based upon the. 

 ]iractice of placing niother-oysters under the most favorable conditions that can be devised for their health, and 

 then closely surrounding them with objects and surfaces — such as tiles stacked loosely over each one — best 

 calculated to offer immediate opportunity for attachment to the spat as soon as it is emitted. The difference in 

 the nature of our mollusks precludes the following of these foreign methods, but it is certain that they may be 

 imitated with jirofit, so far as the placing of spawners along with the cultch is concerned. 



Nature op best bottom for oyster-beds. — It has long been well understood that the infant oyster, 

 swimming about in search of a resting-place or anchorage, never chooses a soft, muddy bottom, or a surface which . 

 is slimy and foul; or, if the volition implied makes the use of the word "chooses" objectionable (we do not know 

 how nuich control the larva has over the matter), let me say, that whenever the little creatures settle itpon such 

 a soft or slimy surface, they do not attach themselves, or, unable to go farther, perish. Little better than the 

 shifting, soft mud is a bottom of clay, with its soapy consistence. Gravel, on the other hand, oft'ers advantages to 

 the oyster whenever it is clean ; therefore a hard gale or an unusually high tide, or any other marine disturbance 

 calculated to scour the bottom of a piece of water tenanted by oysters, is greatly welcomed just before their 

 breeding-time. About 18G7 a terrible storm cleaned all the ground in the mouth of the Ilousatouic river, 

 Connecticut, right in midsummer. The result was, that where there had rarely been profitable oystering before, 

 was originated the jiresent great "Stratford" seed-bed. The ridge-like character of most old oyster-reefs, breaking 

 the slow and even flow of currents, and so tending to increase their force, no doubt causes them to be Icept better 

 cleaned than the adjacent lower bottom, and thus helps to make these reefs the best of all natural oyster- growing 

 spots. 



In fact, there is no doubt that the great secret for a successful spat is extreme cleanliness. Given this quality, 

 there seems to be nothing to which infant oysters will not adhere — the shells of theii" neighbors and of other 

 mollusks, living crabs, turtles, and terrapins, rocks and pebbles on the shore. 



"On eliell or stone is drop'd the omhryo seed, 

 And quickly vegetates a vital breed." — Crahhe. 



Equally well, also, on the piles supporting bridges and piers; on rafts, boat-bottoms, and floating timber; on 

 buoys and stakes, and in enormous abundance on the leafless head of a tree falleji into the water, or on the roots 

 and limbs of living trees (as notably in the case of the " mangrove oysters" of Florida) ; on sedges and eel-grass 

 (whence in the south they drop oif to make fine " cove" and " single " oysters, and in the north to be frost-bitten 

 and perish in winter); and upon all sorts of odd objects, gravel (valuable in producing single, round stock), bricks, 

 bottles, broken crockery, tinware, shoes, anything, and everything, the surface of which is free from that slippery 

 coating, partly sediment, partly organic growth, which so rapidly accumulates under sea-water, especially in some 

 localities. 



Artificial stools. — It was long ago understood, therefore, that when artificial beds for the capture of spawn 

 were proposed to be prepared, the substance of the cultch did not so greatly matter as its position and condition 

 at the time of spawning. In Europe, rough stones set on edge or piled in loose stacks, crib-work of tiles or slate 

 or strips of stone, suspended bundles of faggots, called "fascines", the bushy heads of dead trees, and various 

 other "stools", were employed. In America it is customary to use nothing but oyster-shells, which sometimes 

 have accumulated on the bed in sufficient numbers, ami sometimes are expressly provided for the purpose, as has 

 been described in the body of the present report. 



The chief reason lor (his adhereuce to <iyster-shells, is probably found in their cheapness and convenience. 



