366 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



The price was formerly $1 per acre, but is now $3 for 4 acres. In the town of Islip, the eastern 

 portion, which was formerly part of Brook Haven, is still under the above rules, but in the western 

 part the grounds are leased at 81 per acre without a toleration fee for public beds. They plant 

 under a special act of the legislature. Most of the oystermeu use cat-boats, averaging 4 tons each, 

 of which there are about three hundred in the bay. One thousand men ami two hundred boys, 

 composing the entire fishing population, engage iu oysteriug during the greater part of the season, 

 which lasts from the 15th of September to the 15th of June. The boys "cull," that is, pick over the 

 oysters and throw back the shells. In former years more boys and fewer men were employed. On 

 public grounds a season's work for a man is 500 bushels. The quantity was much greater iu years 

 past, but the species has been failing for years. The oysters are sold by the " tub," holding about 

 a bushel. It is part of a barrel, and should be 10 inches high, 17 inches across the bottom, and 19 

 iuches at the top, inside measurement. The price varies from 75 cents to $1.25 per tub, the average 

 being about a dollar. The men generally sell to shippers by rail or boatmen who buy for markets. 

 About one-half the catch goes to New York, and the remainder is divided between Norwich and 

 Providence. Messrs. La Salle & Day buy for both the New York and the European markets. 

 Many are now shipped iu barrels to Europe, but no special packing is done for this trade except 

 to wash them clean, so that no mud gets in. 



Mr. Skinner, referred to above, says that during the third quarter of the present century the 

 oysters in the bay spawned only once iu three years, but that during the last five years they have 

 spawned oftener, although from causes in part unknown the greater portion of the seed have died 

 soon after. One fruitful ageucy in their destruction is the "drill," which attacks the thin shell of 

 the young and bores through. Their work can be plainly seen. There are very few star-fish, and 

 the drill is the only known enemy. This is disappearing to some extent, and prospects seem better, 

 as an unusually large proportion of the last year's crop survived. Much seed from Virginia, the 

 Hudson River, Newark Bay, and Connecticut has been planted in the bays. The planters think 

 that the last is best, because more likely to stand the winters and live. The Virginia seed is not 

 so hardy; 50 per cent, dies the first winter and 30 per cent, of the remainder dies afterward. The 

 Hudson River seed is the next best. 



Forty years ago the principal oyster grounds were at Blue Point, near Patchogue. They have, 

 however, been moving westward at the rate of from one-quarter to 1 mile per year, having gone 15 

 miles in thirty years. Sayvillo is now the center of the "Blue Point" oyster industry. The clams 

 are going east at the same time, a few now being taken as far east as Terry's bed, opposite Brown's 

 Point, one-third of a mile east of Sayvillc. Seed was formerly shipped from the bay; now it is 

 brought iu. Thirty-five years ago 10,000 bushels of seed were shipped to Boston, and sold at 10 

 cents per bushel. In those days the oysters grew thickly on old shells, and in selling 3 bushels the 

 purchaser took 2 of oysters and 1 of shells. Seed is worth 50 cents per bushel, and from 1,000 to 

 2,800 bushels are planted on a 4-acre lot, according to the size of the seed. 



Mr. La Salle believes that the days of oyster-planting are numbered, unless the plants are 

 guarded from their enemies, human and other. In the flush oyster times seed often sold from this 

 bay for 4 cents per bushel. 



There are plenty of shells in the bay for oyster spat to set on, but there has not been a good 

 catch of spat in five or six years. The "drills" have made their appearance within this period. 

 They thrive in the salter water nearer the inlet, decreasing in numbers toward the eastern end of 

 the bay. About 8750,000 are invested in the oyster business, and the annual yield amounts to 

 800,000 bushels. As has already been mentioned, 1,000 men are engaged in the fisheries of this 



