REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 27 



extravagant. » * * I firmly believe that the culture of oyster spat or seed is as 

 practicable as beoculture, and that it may be profitable also. I believe that the 

 production of spat or seed oysters can be carried on iu concentrated or condensed 

 form, and that it may and will become a distinct industry from that of oyster 

 plautiug. It will inevitably como to this, and will be as scientific and precise in its 

 knowledge of conditions as bee-culture. 



I have just returned from a visit to Sea Isle City to inspect my last year's experi- 

 ments in oyster-culture. I find, to my surprise, that spatting is already in progress 

 there, and I inclose Avith this a young oyster which I should judge was already three 

 weeks old. These results, together with my Chesaiieake Bay observations made in 

 1880, prove that the spatting period extends over four or five months. My method of 

 ■working there has resulted in the development of what I believe must eventually be 

 the metliod of rearing spat on a large scale for commercial purposes on an apparatus 

 that will cost 30 cents per sciuare yard. The yield from the very small plant already 

 in use promises the first year from 1 to 3 bushels of seed oysters per square yard, 

 ranging from 2 to 2^ inches m length. The method is, in fact, applicable where the 

 bottom consists of ooze and is unfit for planting, and will enable the oystermen of 

 New Jersey to reclaim thousands of unused acres of riparian territory. My plan is 

 essentially the creation of an artificial bottom or bed which shall be at all times acces- 

 sible for cleaning, sorting, spawning, and growing oysters to marketable dimensions. 

 It also makes it possible to use the whole spawning season, four or five months, with 

 clean shells for the whole time. Moreover, there is no loss of shells in the mud, so 

 that shells once brought to the bed can be used until they have caught spat. This 

 does away with the wa.steful results of sowing shells on the bottom. 



Since I have returned I have visited Sea Isle and met one of the oystermen there, 

 who is very much interested. He told me that if he could do on a more extensive 

 scale what I succeeded in doing there last year on a small scale, he would not here- 

 after need to import seed from the Chesapeake. He will supplement my work with 

 experiments of his own. This, from a practical man who has been in the business 

 for many years, is, it seems to me, a pretty strong indorsement. 



The framework for holding the ciiltch and breeding oysters was con- 

 structed in the early part of July, 1892. It consisted of six squares of 

 No. 10 galvanized-iron wire netting, each 1 rod square and having a 

 2 inch mesh. These squares or frames were supported on cedar piles 

 driven into the soft mud and jointed with stringers of light pine. The 

 entire outfit was very cheap, costing only a little over $00, inclusive of 

 the oyster shells planted upon it, and will last for two or three years 

 without repairs. This apparatus was arranged in the wide tide-water 

 ditches which had been cut to drain the land about the laboratory at 

 Sea Isle City. The wire screens were placed about to 8 inches below 

 high-water level, so that when covered with 30 to 50 bushels of clam 

 and oyster shells as cultch, together with a few adult oysters to 

 furnish the spawn, the top of the bed was nearly uncovered at low tide. 

 The idea was to have the cultch as near the surface as possible, in order 

 that the fry might have a proi:)er chance to set. 



The experiments of the first year, 1891, afforded very encouraging 

 results, as at the end of eleven months some of the spat had attained 

 a length of 3 inches and would have made cullings or good plants. 

 In that year they obtained as many as 30 to 40 bushels of seed to the 

 square rod, including the old shells to which they were attached. At 

 this rate the possibility of growing seed from cultch thus treated may 

 be considered as havnig been successfully proved, and at the end of the 



