THE OYSTER. 221 



breeding season is therefore a wise one, but oysters 

 are very different from game birds. They discharge 

 vast numbers of eggs into the water, but they take no 

 care of their young, and while it is true that the re- 

 moval of too many mature oysters from a bed destroys 

 its productiveness, the time when they are removed is 

 a matter of no consequence, and overfishing in De- 

 cember is in this respect as bad as overfishing in May. 



I have made a study of the spawning time of our 

 oysters, and have carried my observations over several 

 years. I have found spawning oysters in our waters 

 in every month in the year except December, January 

 and February, and I have had no opportunty to visit 

 the beds during these three months. 



By far the greater number of these oysters, how- 

 ever, are found to spawn between May 2oth and July 

 ist, and although the temperature of our spring months 

 causes considerable variation, this period may properly 

 be called the spawning season. At any time before 

 May 2Oth, the disturbance of the beds can do little 

 harm, and the experience of the Connecticut oyster- 

 farmers shows that the thorough raking of the beds 

 just before the spawning season is a positive benefit. 

 The young oysters cannot attach themselves to dirty 

 and slimy shells, and if all the sponges, hydroids and 

 sea-weeds could be dragged from our beds in April 

 and May, and if the old decayed and slimy shells 

 could be plowed under and covered with the cleaner 

 shells from below the surface by dredging just before 

 the spawning season, the fertility of the beds would be 



