202 THE OYSTER. 



oyster-farming is carried on. They sell to the Con- 

 necticut farmers the shells which they scatter over 

 their land to collect the spat, and there are many citi- 

 zens of Maryland who know all about the business, 

 and even some who have attempted to put the Con- 

 necticut methods into practice in our own waters." 



*' Were these attempts unsuccessful ? Are the oys- 

 ters exposed here to dangers which do not exist in 

 Long Island Sound ? I am told that in Connecticut 

 oysters in shallow water are often killed by ice, and 

 that the deep-water farms are open and exposed to 

 violent storms which, in the winter, often drive the 

 loose sand and mud over the oysters and bury and 

 destroy them. I hear, too, that the farmers suffer from 

 the ravages of starfish. They tell me that these ani- 

 mals often come up in great armies, on to the beds, 

 from outside, and that they destroy whole farms, 

 leaving behind them only the empty shells. Do these 

 accidents and enemies threaten the farming industry 

 in Maryland ? " 



" Not at all," answered the packer. ** We are so for- 

 tunate as to have none of these causes of failure. 

 While the water of our bay is perfectly adapted for 

 oysters, it is too fresh for starfish. They are some- 

 times found in the lower part, near the ocean, but they 

 are never numerous enough to do much damage. Our 

 climate is too mild for the ice to do much harm, and the 

 bay is so well sheltered and landlocked that there are 

 few places where oysters are exposed to much danger 

 from storms. Most of our bottoms are so well protected 

 that the hardest winds cause very little movement." 



" You say oyster-farming has been tried in Mary- 

 land. Was it successful ? " 



