202 Our Food Mollusks 



in perfect independence and security by the side of his 

 powerful neighbor. If he is thrifty and understands his 

 business, he makes it a success. He does not owe his ex- 

 istence as a small culturist to the benevolence of the large 

 corporation, but to wise laws, and to the nature of the 

 industry itself, which is so extensive on the Atlantic and 

 Gulf coasts that a crushing oyster monopoly is an im- 

 possibility, and probably always will be. 



When, from personal observation, one has gained 

 some conception of the great extent of the cultivated 

 areas in the northern field, he is lost in wonder that seed 

 could be found sufficient for its sowing. But it must be 

 remembered that three, four, and sometimes five years 

 are necessary for the maturing of the crop, so that it is 

 not necessary to seed the entire area each year. The 

 method of capturing the spat has already been described. 

 A large corporation may secure its young oysters both on 

 its deep water farms and on its property near shore, but 

 most of it is taken on the comparatively shallow areas. 



While Connecticut culturists have heretofore supplied 

 almost the entire field, Rhode Island planters are now 

 beginning to discover that, even with the high rental they 

 must pay, the planting of shells for a set of young is 

 profitable. Since 1903 seed collecting has become an 

 important factor of the industry in Narragansett Bay. 



Thus the sound and the bays in the northern field have 

 become centers of great activity. During the summer 

 large fleets are engaged in the planting of breeding 

 oysters and shells or crushed rock for the collection of 

 spat, in cleaning bottoms or hardening them with sand 

 and gravel, in dredging, culling, and transplanting oysters 

 to growing or conditioning grounds, and in dragging 

 mops for the capture of starfish. In the winter all are 



