198 Our Food Mollusks 



the land, there has been a preparation of the ground, a 

 sowing of seed, and a cultivation in preparation for a 

 harvest. The impression is strong that there can be 

 little depth of water over these farms, and that naviga- 

 tion here by large steamers would be perilous, but the 

 largest of vessels might pass safely over much of the 

 field. 



Naturally, oyster farmers first chose their fields near 

 the shore, where the majority of the natural beds had 

 existed. When these were all occupied, they ventured 

 farther into the sound. To-day one sees from the steam- 

 er's deck that some of the oyster grounds have been ex- 

 tended to the middle of the sound, or to the boundary 

 line between Connecticut and New York. Some of these 

 are more than six miles from shore. 



Perhaps the thing that most astonishes one is the in- 

 formation he obtains concerning the depth of water over 

 many of these cultivated acres. Only a few years ago, 

 no one would have supposed it possible that oysters ever 

 could be taken economically from a depth of more than 

 seven or eight fathoms, yet to-day, in some places, they 

 are planted in and readily removed from bottoms cov- 

 ered by a hundred feet of water. Such a depth, it is 

 true, is exceptionally great, but it is hardly less wonder- 

 ful that a very large part of the planted area in the 

 sound is seventy or eighty feet in depth. The great 

 majority of the beds are under water from twenty to 

 eighty feet. It may even be surprising to learn that the 

 shore-loving, brackish water oyster can exist at all at so 

 great a depth as a hundred feet. The fact, however, is 

 that it has been taken from a natural " rock " in Dela- 

 ware Bay at a depth of more than five hundred feet. 



The achievements of the deep-water culturist, that 



