32 AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY. 



nise the fact that this thing is in its infancy. Several gentlemen 

 have experimented before I did, whose names I mention in the 

 paper read, and from whom I obtained considerable knowledge 

 before I attempted it. I don't know what percentage we did 

 get. We were contented to just work along, the main thing be- 

 ing to get ripe oysters and hatch something, doing the best we 

 can. There is no trouble in hatching them. Every year along 

 our bays and harbors there is a greater or less amount of spawn. 



Mr. Fairbank. — The set has been found to be best, I under- 

 stand, on the bottom ? 



Mr. Mather. — Yes, sir; but where there are swift tideways 

 there comes a time in the life of the little oyster when it wants 

 to settle down to steady habits and quit this roving life, and 

 whatever it takes hold of must be clean, and if it falls down in 

 the mud it is gone. You can easily see, gentlemen, that in a 

 state of nature, many millions of spawn must be sent out and 

 but few are impregnated. When the female oyster gets ready, 

 she opens her shells and lets her eggs go, and they must run 

 their chance of a current from somewhere bringing them to the 

 milt of some male oyster who has also just reached the supreme 

 moment, and the chances of their coming in contact at the proper 

 instant of covirse are very small. The great mass must remain 

 unimpregnated, and then, of those which are impregnated, 

 many of them fall into the mud and into other unsuitable places, 

 not to mention dangers after their shells grow. 



A Member.- — Would the impregnation by artificial means be 

 an economic way ? 



Mr. Mather. — I think so, and I think Prof. Ryder thinks so 

 too, and the means which he gives to catch the spat I think to 

 be a better way of procedure than the process I have adopted. 



Mr. Booth. — I think perhaps it may be interesting to some of 

 you gentlemen to give you one of my little experiences. The 

 results I have just heard are very good, very nice indeed. It 

 shows that oysters can be propagated, but it can be done so 

 much more cheaply and in a more practical manner. Some 

 four years ago, I planted 12,000 bushels of shells that- we had 



