THE OYSTER. Ill 



localities, while others can be used to best advantage 

 under other conditions. Our people have long been 

 noted for their ingenuity, and there is no doubt that, 

 as the great importance of oyster-farming comes to be 

 appreciated among us, we shall have many great im- 

 provements in the methods of procuring seed oysters, 

 better adapted for our own needs than any which are 

 here described, but our account will serve to show 

 our people the general direction in which their inven- 

 tive skill must be directed. 



Oyster Shells. — At present no spat-collector seems 

 to be better adapted for use in our waters upon hard 

 bottoms than oyster shells, and they are now the 

 cheapest collectors that can be used. 



In order to serve this purpose the shells must be 

 perfectly clean, and as the old dead shells, which 

 have lain for a long time upon the oyster-beds, are 

 torn to pieces by the boring sponge and covered with 

 mud and slime, hydrioids, sea-weed and sponges, they 

 are much less effective than those which are placed in 

 the water just before the spawning season. 



In regions where there is no danger from frost, or . 

 where the young growth is to be planted in deeper 

 water before winter, the shells may be deposited at or 

 even above low-water mark, and in the sounds of 

 North Carolina oysters thrive even at high-tide mark. 

 The shells should be deposited in the early summer — . 

 in June, July and August — in localities where there is 

 enough current to sweep the swimming young past 

 them. A hard bottom is to be preferred, but this 

 method may be employed with great advantage upon 

 any soft bottoms which are near the surface. In this 



