130 THE OYSTER. 



is not high enough with us to justify the practical 

 use of any such expensive machinery, so it will be 

 unnecessary to speak of any of it. 



The aim of all the methods of oyster culture which 

 have been described is to increase the number of oys- 

 ters, by furnishing proper substances for collecting the 

 swimming embryos at the time when they are ready 

 to attach themselves. In all our northern waters, and 

 as far south as the Chesapeake Bay, clean oyster shells 

 are in nearly all cases the best substances to use for the 

 the purpose, and there is hardly a spot anywhere in 

 the bay which might not ultimately be converted into 

 an oyster-bed, by this simple method of cultivation, 

 which has been shown, in all parts of the world, where 

 it has been tried, to yield a very great return for the 

 capital and labor employed. 



There are few parts of the world which offer ad- 

 vantages for the prosecution of this industry equal 

 to those afforded by the Bay, and there is no other 

 place where these advantages are presented on such a 

 great area of bottom. Our oyster grounds, of course, 

 vary in value, according to local conditions, and oyster 

 culture is much more easy and profitable in some 

 places than in others ; but in course of time even the 

 soft, muddy bottoms of the deepest channels may be 

 brought under cultivation, and there is scarcely a 

 foot of the bottom where oysters cannot be reared. 

 The number of oysters which the Bay might be made 

 to furnish annually is almost too great for computa- 

 tion, but we may very safely assert that it is greater 



