Conditions Governing Oyster Growth 93 



ter there. Waves of fashion in dress, and manners, and 

 social customs, sometimes degrading enough, continually 

 roll toward our shores from abroad. Though these 

 break and spend their force largely on the northern 

 coast, some of them continue westward across the con- 

 tinent as very noticeable ripples. Not all of them are 

 alarming, and some sinister ones may hardly succeed in 

 crossing the ocean, but they are all worthy of attention. 



Much more interesting is the growing aristocracy of 

 wealth that is desperately striving to establish itself 

 among us, and it is inevitable that there should be many 

 who regard it complacently. A little too frequently in 

 speech, and even in the editorial writings of leading jour- 

 nals, appear such phrases as " our middle class " or " our 

 common people." Even this attempted social segrega- 

 tion of the few persons of great wealth, however, is not 

 disturbing in view of the fact that, with every year, 

 democracy more clearly appears to be the fundamental 

 element of the nation's life. 



The chief differences between the oyster culture of the 

 continent, in Europe, and that of our own shores, are 

 that here oysters are cultivated below tide lines ; we 

 neither employ tile spat collectors, construct reservoirs 

 for the growing young, or for the growth of diatoms on 

 which they feed, nor build racks on which to support 

 them above the bottom. Small oysters from natural 

 beds are spread on suitable bottoms to mature, or the 

 swimming young are captured on simple collectors, and 

 planted in the same way. There has been little change 

 of procedure since the days of the City Island men who 

 began oyster culture in America, because natural condi- 

 tions have remained so favorable that a change has not 

 been necessary. 



