Conditions Governing Oyster Growth 107 



time, oysters from the set of 1899, now two years old, 

 continued to be taken from the natural beds and planted. 

 It was thought that the season of 1902 would surely 

 bring relief, but no relief came, and the whole industry 

 began to suffer. 



It may be imagined that shells from the natural and 

 artificial beds were anxiously examined for newly at- 

 tached oysters in the early summer of 1903, and that 

 alarm was felt when none appeared. The summer and 

 then the fall wore away, and the fourth lean year proved 

 to be the leanest of all. There was no set on the natural 

 beds. Five years previously the great Stratford and 

 Bridgeport natural bed alone had yielded more than 

 400,000 bushels of seed oysters, and on this year it did 

 not produce a bushel. The matter had become serious 

 for all northern planters, for seed from the Connecticut 

 beds had for years supported not only the planted areas 

 of the state, but also very largely those of Massachusetts, 

 Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey. In the 

 waters of these states, three years, on an average, are 

 required for the maturing of seed oysters. Those planted 

 during " the year of the great set " were now marketed, 

 and a long delay in the future was inevitable. 



Again no changes in natural conditions were noticed, 

 but the season of 1904 brought a harvest of young 

 oysters that was nearly equal in volume to that of 1899. 

 This time dealers in seed received large returns for their 

 labor. Planters everywhere, not yet discouraged, bought 

 every bushel that could be produced, and the price of seed 

 rose to an unprecedentedly high level. More than a dol- 

 lar a bushel was often paid, and the average price for the 

 entire season was nearly seventy-three cents. Planters 

 were compelled to wait long for returns, but the industry 



