SIXTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 



and vessels in tlie animals are tilled with a larger relative amount 

 of water due to endosmose. It is a dealer's trick to e^ive his 

 product a better appearance in the market, and as such I do not 

 think deserves encouragement, but rather exposure. 



" Mr. Conger has actually resorted to warming fresh water to 

 6ofahr. in winter by steam pipes running underneath the wooden 

 inclosure surrounding the ' fattening ' or ' plumping ' float. One 

 good ' drink,' as he expressed himself to me, renders tlie animals 

 fit for sale and of better appearance. 



"Conger's floats are simply a pair of windlasses supported by 

 two pairs of piles driven into the bottom. Chains or ropes 

 wdiich wind upon the windlasses pass down to a pair of cross 

 pieces, upon which the float rests, which has a perforated or 

 strong slat bottom and a rim i8 inches to 2 feet high. These 

 floats I should think are about 8 feet wide and 16 feet long, per- 

 haps 20. These structures are usually built alongside the wharfs 

 of the packing and shipping houses and are really a great con- 

 venience in conducting the work." 



Elsewhere Prof. Ryder speaks of the floats thus: 



" The diaphragm itself was constructed of boards perforated 

 with auger holes, and lined on the inside with gunny-cloth or 

 sacking; and the space between the perforated boards was filled 

 with sharp, clean sand. The space between the boards was about 

 2 inches; through this the tide ebbed and flowed, giving a rise 

 and fall of from 4 to 6 inches during the interval between suc- 

 cessive tides." 



Mr. F. T. Lane of New Haven, Conn., writes as follows about 

 the method of floating practiced by himself, and as 1 understand, 

 by other New Haven growers : 



" We do not always leave them two days in the floats, — as a 

 rule, only one day. We ]nit them into brackish water and take 

 them out at low water or in the last of the falling tide as then 

 the water is the freshest and tlie oysters are at their best. As it 

 is not convenient for us to put them into the floats and take them 

 out the same day we do not want the water too fresh. On one 

 occasion, wishing to know what the result would be of putting 

 the oysters into water that w^as quite fresh I had one of my floats 

 taken up the river half a mile further than wliere we commonly 



