8 Our Food Mollusks 



tions of the United States Bureau of Fisheries, and cared 

 for through the early period of life, during which de- 

 struction is greatest in a state of nature. The losses 

 under this care are few, and the young fishes, now much 

 better able to care for themselves, are liberated to pass the 

 remainder of their lives in a natural state. There are 

 good reasons for the belief that the shad would have be- 

 come practically extinct years ago, if this method of 

 artificial propagation had not been practised. The num- 

 bers of several species of fishes are maintained in the 

 same manner. 



In the case of one marine form not included in the 

 group of fishes, very remarkable success has attended the 

 employment of culture methods. The culture of the 

 native oyster of the Atlantic coast, the simple beginnings 

 of which date back only half a century, affords the one 

 great demonstration that we at present possess of the possi- 

 bilities of sea farming; and the extent and value of the in- 

 dustry depending on it are very significant. It is the pur- 

 pose of the following chapters to set forth the achieve- 

 ment of the oyster culturist, and to show that other food 

 mollusks, now rapidly disappearing, may also be made 

 very much more abundant than they ever have been under 

 natural conditions. 



And why should this work not be extended? To be- 

 gin, we should know that the sea contains immense quan- 

 tities of nutritious and palatable food, of which no use 

 is made. The Agricultural Department is searching all 

 the corners of the earth for useful plants with a view to 

 habituating them to our own soils and climates. Why 

 should the effort not be made to introduce on our own 

 shores marine food organisms from other seas ? Probably 

 quite by accident, our eastern long neck clam was in- 



