51 



were fastened by pegs made of bamboo, were found, as a 

 propagating apparatus, to yield the most favourable re- 

 sults. The chief drawbacks experienced by Mr. Buccich, 

 and which were regarded by himself and those associated 

 with him in making these experiments as sufficiently for- 

 midable as to oblige their abandonment, arose, firstly, from 

 the hostile attitude continually displayed by the population 

 of the neighbourhood, who manifested a deep-rooted pre- 

 judice against what they looked upon as an undesirable 

 innovation, and not content with constantly disturbing the 

 growing crops with their fishing-nets, on many occasions 

 went so far as to steal the sponges. It was in the second 

 instance found that the sponges planted as cuttings grew 

 so slowly, that as long a period as seven years elapsed 

 before they arrived at a marketable size. As a general 

 result, it was concluded that sponge cultivation, as a 

 financial enterprise, could not be recommended to the 

 attention of private individuals having only a small amount 

 of capital at command ; but that, if undertaken by the 

 State, or by capitalists who could afford to wait the time 

 indicated, planting new crops each year, and having the 

 ground efficiently guarded, so as in the end to reap a 

 continuous harvest, it might prove highly remunerative. 



The results obtained by experiments conducted at Key 

 West on the Florida Coast in connection with the finest 

 American sheep's-wool sponge {Spongia equina, var. gossy- 

 pind) were even more encouraging than those recorded 

 from the Mediterranean. Separate cuttings having an 

 original height of 2\ inches, planted in a depth of 2\ feet 

 of water, grew within six months to over twice these 

 dimensions. It was observed, furthermore, that the first 

 four months out of the six were occupied in their recovery 

 from the mutilation they sustained in the cutting process, 



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