THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



NOVEMBER, 1893. 

 THE CONSERVATION OF OUR OYSTER SUPPLY. 



BY ROBERT F. WALSH. 



"/~\YSTER culture, properly so called, the production of spat 

 ^-J by aid of artificial methods, has never been resorted 

 to in this country." And " as the scarcity of seed is one of the 

 greatest difficulties now encountered by the oyster planter, this 

 subject offers an interesting field for investigation." 



These statements occur in the Report of the United States 

 Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries for the year ending June 30, 

 1889 ; and as the propagation of spat by artificial means has not 

 been resorted to since that time, it will be interesting to examine 

 the general conditions of our oyster supply, and, from ascertained 

 results in foreign waters, consider whether or not such methods 

 would tend toward restocking our depleted oyster beds, or eco- 

 nomically increasing the oyster supply. 



In the consideration of this subject it will be well, first, to give 

 a brief, general account of the conditions of the existing, working, 

 and outworked oyster beds ; and, having ascertained these condi- 

 tions, as nearly as possible, and made some necessary compari- 

 sons, we can more easily consider the advisability of raising spat 

 by artificial methods. The natural oyster of America can not 

 continue to be produced in such abundance as we have been 

 accustomed to find it. The beds of South Carolina have practi- 

 cally given out; the famous oyster beds of Maryland and Virginia 

 in the Chesapeake Bay region, which Captain Collins calls "the 

 most important oyster region of the world" are being so de- 

 pleted of oysters that the "gravest apprehension" is caused as to 

 their future; and only in Connecticut has. there been a marked 

 increase, both in the acreage of oyster beds and oyster production. 



