CHAPTER VIII 



OYSTER CULTURE IN AMERICA 



MORE or less arbitrary distinction has been 

 made between oyster planting and oyster cul- 

 ture, the latter being defined as a method by 

 means of which the number of oysters are in- 

 creased by artificial means above that produced under 

 natural conditions alone. Except in Long Island Sound 

 and in the region about the mouth of the Hudson, true 

 oyster culture is still rarely practised in this country. In 

 Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and the Gulf states, 

 the universal opinion appears to be that while natural 

 beds continue to exist, seed should be obtained from them. 

 All these states possess extensive natural beds. In most 

 cases oysters are still taken from them directly to mar- 

 ket, and where planting is practised, they furnish the 

 seed. The idea seems to prevail, also, that the New 

 England and New York oystermen are driven to the 

 use of collectors because their natural beds are so nearly 

 destroyed. 



It should not escape attention in the southern states 

 that there are some important advantages in the method 

 of gathering spat upon artificial collectors. The first of 

 these is that the number of oysters is increased. Such an 

 increase may not seem necessary at present in most places, 

 and the fear, sometimes expressed, that it would glut the 



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