THE OYSTER. 115 



(3). Or, if the bed is in the neighborhood of natural 

 beds, the shelled bed is left without further preparation 

 to catch the spawn as it is drifted above it. Sometimes 

 the shells fail to ' catch a set/ and this makes it neces- 

 sary to rake over the shells the following year, or to 

 cover them over with more fresh shells for the next 

 spawning. There is always an abundance of spawn in 

 the waters of the Sound, and when a set is secured an 

 enormous crop is the result. On a private deep-water 

 bed, during the past summer, the dredge was drawn at 

 random in the presence of the commissioners, and from 

 an ordinary-size shovelful there were counted 206 

 young oysters in excellent condition, of the average 

 size of a quarter of a dollar. As many as a hundred 

 young oysters have been counted growing on a 

 medium-sized oyster shell. 



" The beds are carefully tended, and no pains are 

 spared to kill all the enemies of the oysters found 

 among them. By continual vigilance the private beds 

 are kept comparatively free from them. The larger 

 proprietors of deep-water beds use steamers for this 

 work, as also in doing their work of planting, raking 

 over and dredging, and they use larger dredges than 

 the sail vessels can, as they are also worked by steam 

 at a great saving of labor and expense. When the 

 oysters have grown on these beds to a merchantable 

 size they are sometimes sold directly from the beds, 

 but more frequently they are transplanted into brackish 

 or fresh waters, where they are permitted to remain 

 for a short period to freshen and fatten for market." 



