REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 27 
extravagant. * * * I firmly believe that the culture of oyster spat or seed is as 
practicable as bee-culture, and that it may be profitable also. I believe that the 
production of spat or seed oysters can be carried on in concentrated or condensed 
form, and that it may and will become a distinct industry from that of oyster 
planting. It will inevitably come to this, and will be as scientific and precise in its 
knowledge of conditions as bee-culture. 
Ihave just returned from a visit to Sea Isle City to inspect my last year’s experi- 
ments in oyster-culture. I find, to my surprise, that spatting is already in progress 
there, and I inclose with this a young oyster which I should judge was already three 
weeks old. These results, together with my Chesapeake Bay observations made in 
1880, prove that the spattins period extends over four or five months. My method of 
working there has resulted in the development of what I believe must eventually be 
the method of rearing spat on a large scale for commercial purposes on an apparatus 
that will cost 30 cents per square yard. The yield from the very small plant already 
in use promises the first year from 1 to 3 bushels of seed oysters per square yard, 
ranging from 2 to 24 inches in length. The method is, in fact, applicable where the 
bottom consists of ooze and is unfit for planting, and will enable the oystermen of 
New Jersey to reclaim thousands of unused acres of riparian territory. My plan is 
essentially the creation of an artificial bottom or bed which shall be at all times acces- 
sible for cleaning, sorting, spawning, and growing oysters to marketable dimensions. 
It also makes it possible to use the whole spawning season, four or five months, with 
clean shells for the whole time. Moreover, there is no loss of shells in the mud, so 
that shells once brought to the bed can be used until they have caught spat. This 
does away with the wasteful results of sowing shells on the bottom. 
Since I have returned I have visited Sea Isle and met one of the oystermen there, 
who is very much interested. He told me that if he could do on a more extensive 
scale what I succeeded in doing there last year on a small scale, he would not here- 
after need to import seed from the Chesapeake. He will supplement my work with 
experiments of hisown. This, from a practical man who has been in the business 
for many years, is, it seems to me, a pretty strong indorsement. 
The framework for holding the cultch and breeding oysters was con- 
structed in the early part of July, 1892. It consisted of six squares of 
No. 16 galvanized-iron wire netting, each 1 rod square and having a 
2-inch mesh. These squares or frames were supported on cedar piles 
driven into the soft mud and jointed with stringers of light pine. The 
entire outfit was very cheap, costing only a little over $60, inclusive of 
the oyster shells planted upon it, and will last for two or three years 
without repairs. This apparatus was arranged in the wide tide-water 
ditches which had been cut to drain the land about the laboratory at 
Sea Isle City. The wire screens were placed about 6 to 8 inches below 
high-water level, so that when covered with 30 to 50 bushels of clam 
and oyster shells as cultch, together with a few adult oysters to 
furnish the spawn, the top of the bed was nearly uncovered at low tide. 
The idea was to have the cultch as near the surface as possible, in order 
that the fry might have a proper chance to set. 
The experiments of the first year, 1891, afforded very encouraging 
results, as at the end of eleven months some of the spat had attained 
a length of 3 inches and would have made cullings or good plants. 
In that year they obtained as many as 30 to 40 bushels of seed to the 
square rod, including the old shells to which they were attached. At 
this rate the possibility of growing seed from cultch thus treated may 
be considered as having been successfully proved, and at the end of the 
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