[3] KEPORT OF WORK AT ST. JEROME STATION. 211 



around tbe edges of ponds. Fifth. Wheat straw tied in bundles and 

 placed in the same way. Sixth. Oyster-shells strewn on bottom of ponds 

 every day. The tile, slate, and shingles we placed in different positions, 

 some standing upriglit in the water, others piled in squares and fastened 

 together with galvanized wire, and others again placed in box like frames 

 of wood and laid on bottom of ponds. The mortar used for coating was 

 composed of lime, cement, and sand. As soon as I began to put spawn 

 in the ponds the doors to the flumes were shut down, to keep the si)awn 

 from going out and to keep out any spawn that might come in from 

 outside sources, while sufficient water soaked through the banks to 

 give the ponds a rise and fall of 2 or 3 inches on every tide. 



Assisted by Tolbert and John Luckett I opened and took spawn 

 from numbers of oysters every day and put it in the pond when it 

 was sufficiently developed. I also tried the experiment in two ponds 

 of putting in the si)awn as soon as fertilization had taken place, l)ut 

 saw no results from it. In August, having found no young oysters, and 

 fearing that the creosote on the flumes had affected the spawn, we tried 

 the experiment of putting creosote in the water with the freshly taken 

 spawn, but it had no injurious eflects; however, at Major Ferguson's 

 suggestion, I had the flume taken out of the fifth pond and continued 

 I)utting in spawn. After the 10th of August the ripe oysters became very 

 scarce and some days I woidd find none at all, so I put Tolbert at car- 

 penter's work, and, assisted by John Luckett, continued taking the spawn 

 until the end of the month, when the season being over I stopped en- 

 tirely. To facilitate the examination of the collectors in the po]ids I 

 put down a system of gangways over them by driving posts in the bot- 

 tom and laying planks across parallel to the bank, in which the flumes 

 were placed and others peri)endicular to those, so that it would not be 

 necessary to muddy the water by walking about in it whenever I wished 

 to examine the collectors. The position of the collectors with respect 

 to these i)aths also determined whether they were the first, second, 

 third, or fourth lot put down, and by reference to my journal the exact 

 date could be obtained, as, for example, first lot was placed on the right 

 of the parallel plaidc, second on the left, third on the right of tlie per- 

 pendicular plank, and so on indefinitely. I examined the collectors 

 constantly, but did not find any oysters until the 25th of August, when 

 Mr. liyder came down again. We then found three oysters in tlu^ first 

 pond, two on tile, one on slate, both coated with mortar, the largest 

 being one-half inch in diameter. During the season collectors were 

 placed in the lower pond and on an oyster bar belonging to Mr. J. W. 

 Wrightson, but we did not get a very heavy set of spat, the largest 

 number oh any collector being five and many not having any at all. 

 Mr. Tolbert also built two hatching troughs, fitted with filters at both 

 ends, in which spawn was placed at the same stage of development as 

 in the ponds. These troughs floated on the top of the water and were 



