310 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



if possible. The environments and advantages possessed by individuals have much 

 to do with their powers of observation, and I speak to you after a residence of 

 fifteen years near New Smyrna Inlet, undergoing the trials that attend those who, with 

 unbounded hopes and limited resources, emigrate to a new country, leaving behind all 

 with which they were formerly associated, and relying on the natural food resources 

 to a great extent for sustenance. These conditions bring mankind in close relations 

 with nature, and through the necessities of the case nature's mysteries are unveiled. 



The utilization of the salt marshes 'of the coastwise country for the propagation 

 of the oyster is, in my opinion, the solution of this most important problem not to 

 ignore the planting of oysters in the creeks, bays, and open waters of the State, but to 

 introduce an intensive system, as it were, that will ultimately insure success. There 

 can be no success without effort, and to the brains and brawn of our land are we 

 indebted for all we possess. The same effort expended in labor or capital in reclaim- 

 ing a portion of our salt marshes for the planting of the oyster I sincerely believe will 

 result in greater financial returns than in any investment that could be made in either 

 orange, vegetable, or tobacco culture, all conditions being the same. I may be assailed 

 as an extremist, but it certainly will cost no more to prepare the ground in one case 

 than in the other. The cost of fertilizer, the packages necessary for transportation, 

 destruction by frost, and the necessity of securing a market at once or meeting an 

 entire loss these considerations, with many others, are ever present with the agri- 

 culturist. The independence of the oyster-culturist arises from knowing that his 

 product will keep until it can be disposed of advantageously, with no loss by frost or 

 decay; and instead of seeking a purchaser, the purchaser seeks the product and pays 

 a satisfactory price, and the producer only has to bag or deliver the goods. The 

 conditions that now govern the transportation of Florida products are in favor of 

 the oyster, for water communication renders competition possible and the industry 

 profitable, which is not so in vegetable culture except in special cases. 



Again, the natural enemies of the oyster in the open waters of the Southern 

 States are neither so plentiful nor so destructive as in northern localities, nor are the 

 vicissitudes of seasons so apparent, causing destruction by freezing, ground ice, and 

 severe storms, often entailing great losses upon those investing in the industry. The 

 climatic conditions of the South are in favor of the speedy maturity of the oyster by 

 promoting the culture of the diatoms and infusoria upon which they subsist. In fact, 

 but one serious objection exists to the propagation of good oysters in all localities, 

 and that is the extreme density of the water in which they abound, on the one hand, 

 and a periodical drowning out by a superabundance of fresh water by excessive rain- 

 falls in certain localities, on the other hand. Were these two extremes so modified, 

 either by natural or artificial means, the coastwise territory of the Southern States 

 would exceed in productiveness the output of the North, producing larger and fmir- 

 flavored oysters in the same space of time without the attendant suffering from the 

 rigors of a northern winter. 



Briefly stated, this can only be accomplished by utilizing our vast salt marshes 

 and reducing the density, wherever required, by the use of surface water elevated by 

 mechanical means, or the advantages obtained, if practical, by artesian wells to per- 

 form the same functions. Whether the sulphureted hydrogen usually present would 

 prove detrimental, I am unable to state. I have been experimenting on that line for 

 some time, but I can not say positively that it would prove injurious to the oyster in tho 

 quantities necessary to bring the salt water to the density required for its successful 



