254 OYSTER FARMING. 



thriving business in more senses than one, and every year 

 becoming more important and extensive. 



Farming, as a term descriptive of this calling or industry^ 

 may at first seem a misnomer; but the word is significant 

 as used in this sense : Anyone engaging in this undertaking 

 buys or secures a plot of water ^ and proceeds to stake it out 

 in a direct line from the shore ; a neighbor secures a plot 

 adjoining, surveys and bounds it in a similar manner. These 

 fenced-in water fields present a novel and picturesque scene 

 to one who beholds it for the first time. 



To the oyster farmer the times and the seasons are dis- 

 tinctly worked and rigidly observed. If he sow and cultivate 

 not, neither can he reap. There are comparatively few 

 places on our inland Atlantic shores where oyster culture is 

 not carried on in some one of its various methods ; there are 

 places for keeping them alive until wanted, places for breed- 

 ing them in, and places in which they are fattened. Most 

 oysters cast their spawn in the months of April or May. 

 The spawn is by the fishermen called " spat," and in size and 

 figure each resembles the drop of a candle. As soon as it 

 is cast, or thrown off, these embryo disks adhers to stones, 

 old oyster shells, pieces of wood, or whatever substance 

 comes in their way ; a limy secretion issues from the surface 

 of their bodies, and in the course of a day begins to be con- 

 verted into a shelly substance. It is about two years, how- 

 ever, before oysters acquire their full size, and are ready for 

 the table. 



Many curious discussions have arisen as to whether 

 oysters possess the faculty of locomotion. It is well known 

 that, in general, they are firmly attached to stones, to any 

 submarine substance, or to each other, and it is generally 

 believed that they are not endowed with any power of 

 changing their position. It is certain that they are the 

 most inanimate of the mollusca, remaining adhered to the 

 substance under the waves that they have fixed upon, enjoy- 



