278 



GEOGRAPHICAL EEVIEW OP THE FISHERIES. 



thing to account for the greenish stain, which is precisely that so highly esteemed a few years ago 

 in the French oysters of Marennes, and other districts. I was assured that this greenness varied 

 in different parts of the river, and with different seasons, and that if any oysters happened to have 

 grown high up on the bridge-piers, or elsewhere off the bottom, they were not green at all. Just 

 how deleterious to health these green Somerset oysters are, I could not learn satisfactorily. No- 

 body pretends that their effects are fatal, and some say they are as good as any other inferior 

 oyster. The general opinion, however, is, that eating a dozen raw ones is certain to be followed 

 by violent sickuess at the stomach. No doubt prejudice has much to do with it, for there is no 

 food which the imagination would more quickly influence the stomach to reject, than the soft, 

 slippery, and somewhat insipid fresh-water oyster. The same green appearance occurs of late in 

 the oysters of Seekonk River, to be spoken of later on ; and in both cases transplanting entirely 

 removes the stain and elevates the quality, which is said to be slowly improving. In consequence 

 of this stain, the eating of Somerset oysters, in their natural state, has been nearly given up, and 

 the whole trade of the river is devoted to the production and sale of eed. Of course no planting 

 of any sort, beyond the occasional transference of 'set' from one part of the river to another, has 

 ever been undertaken. 



"The number of young oysters born every fall in Taunton River varies, but there is never a 

 year wholly without them. The season of 1877 was a good one, and about ten years previous, the 

 autumn of 'the great September gale,' saw an extraordinary production, or 'set,' as the appearance 

 of the young oysters is termed here. The rocks and gravel along both shores are covered to a 

 greater or less extent, but in addition to this every owner spreads down great quantities of clean 

 shells every summer, in the hope of catching spawn. Generally, they are successful, and some- 

 times extremely so. Some experiments have been tried with sunken brush; but though the spawn 

 attached itself well enough, the currents and winds are so strong and uncertain as to drift it nil 

 away and lose it to its owner. Perhaps 25,000 or 30,000 bushels of shells are spread in this river 

 annually. The favorites are scallop shells, because they are thin and brittle, so that the young 

 oysters anchored to them are easily broken apart or detached. Scallop shells are somewhat scarce, 

 and 3,000 bushels put down at Assonet in 1878 cost $300. The result, nevertheless, is often very 

 gratifying. Mr. S. R. Higgius told me that from 500 bushels of shells placed near Fall River he 

 took up the following year 3,500 bushels of young oysters. The annual product, in seed, of the 

 different town fronts along the river is given approximately as follows: 



"Putting an average value of 45 cents a bushel on this (the sales of the Somerset Oyster 

 Company in 1879 netted them 42 cents), gives the sum of $22,950 as the value of the yearly crop 

 of Taunton River seed. Of this, $5,400 is paid as revenue to the towns, and the balance mainly to 

 native assistants in dredging, tonging, and transportation. The river towns may therefore be said 

 to derive about $20,000 as the annual value of their fisheries to them, besides the oysters needed 

 'for family use.' This money is widely distributed. While the law permits the raking of the 

 river during nine months of the year, it is nevertheless the fact that the main part of the work 

 must be done in a much shorter time. As soon as the weather permits, or about April 1, the pro- 

 prietors put gangs of men at work, and keep at it until the end of May, The catch is nearly all 



