THE OYSTER. I07 



The Delaware planters often find that after a bottom 

 has been used for many years for planting, the young 

 oysters grow upon the shells which gradually accumu- 

 late, and a very valuable artificial oyster-bed is thus 

 established. The law-abiding citizens respect the pri- 

 vate ownership of these beds, and they are a source of 

 wealth to their possessor. 



I quote from the " Report of the Shell-Fish Com- 

 missioners," of Connecticut, for 1883, the following 

 statement of the present condition of the industry in 

 that State: 



" The deep-water cultivators proceed in three differ- 

 ent ways to make beds. (i). The bottom being prop- 

 erly cleared off, the seed oysters, mixed with the 

 gravel, jingles and other shells just as they are gathered 

 from the natural beds, are distributed thereon more or 

 less uniformly, and there left to grow. (2). Or the 

 bottom is spread over with clean oyster shells just be- 

 fore the spawning season begins, and brood oysters, 

 twenty-five bushels to the acre, are distributed over 

 the bed. (3). Or, if the bed is in the neighborhood of 

 natural beds, the shelled bed is left without further 

 preparation to catch the spawn as it is drifted above it. 

 Sometimes the shells fail to * catch a set,' and this 

 makes it necessary to rake over the shells the follow- 

 ing year, or to cover them over with more fresh shells 

 for the next spawning. There is always an abund- 

 ance of spawn in the waters of the Sound, and when a 

 set is secured an enormous crop is the result. On a 

 private deep-water bed, during the past summer, the 

 dredge was drawn at random in the presence of the 

 commissioners, and from an ordinary-size shovelful 



