534 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



spawn; but planters consider tbat they tend to reduce the quality and price of the native stock, 

 and hence have almost ceased to bring any. 



No less than five hundred sail-boats are to be seen every spring and fall between Moriches 

 and Blue Point gathering seed, carrying it away, and buying it for outside planters. To every 

 one of these five hundred sail-boats, mainly well-built sloops and cat-boats, three men may be 

 counted, BO that fifteen hundred men are probably employed in this industry alone, at these 

 times. How much seed is procured each season it is impossible to state, but I should judge 

 it to be not less than 100,000 bushels, or twice that amount for the annual yield. The poorer seed 

 caught is sold to a great extent in the rough stones, shells, dead stuff, and all just as it comes, 

 since on much of it there are oysters clinging too small to be detached. Much, however, is culled, 

 boys going in the boat and picking the tongfuls over as fast as they are poured out upon a board 

 placed across the middle of the skiff from gunwale to gunwale ; for this service from 40 to 60 

 cents is paid. The buyers are planters at Bellport, Patchogue, Blue Point, Sayville and the 

 towns farther west, and occasionally a man frain Rhode Island or Connecticut, who wants this 

 seed to work up into a particular grade on his home beds. 



Home seed is preferred to any from a distance, but it is conceded that oysters taken from the 

 eastern to the western end of the bay grow more rapidly than those not changed. The ordinary 

 amount of small seed put on an acre is 500 bushels, chiefly laid down in the spring. In the fall 

 the owner goes over them and thins them out, finding a great many which are large enough for 

 market, though no bigger than a silver dollar. The rest remain down longer, and meanwhile 

 constant additions of seed are made alongside. 



As you go westward to the extremity of the " Blue Point " district, in the neighborhood of 

 Bayshore, you find a feeling of discouragement. The oysters there do not grow as fast or become 

 as finely flavored as those to the eastward, and all the seed must be bought or poached stealthily 

 frorn Brookhaven. Large quantities of ground there are not taken up, although with the help 

 of capital it might be made productive. 



The crops gathered from the beds of the Blue Point district amount in the aggregate to 

 something over 200,000 bushels annually, while the western part of the shore, from Babylon 

 to Coney Island, sends about twice as much to market. 



THE EAST RIVER AND LONG ISLAND SOUND. Going around into the East River, or eastern 

 end of Long Island Sound, we find the mouths of all the rivers and the shallows of nearly every one 

 of the many coves that indent the rocky coasts on both sides occupied by private beds of oysters, 

 each held under local regulations. On the Long Island side the principal points are Great Neck, 

 Port Washington, Oyster Bay, Huntiugton Bay, and Port Jefferson, with many minor points 

 between ; and the annual aggregate yield of the whole north shore of Long Island is between 

 350,000 and 400,000 bushels, but the average price is less than $1 a bushel. 



On the Connecticut shore, also, every sheltered indentation has its planted oyster-beds, espe- 

 cially at City Island, Greenwich, Rowayton, and South Norwalk. 



I do not know that the methods differ from those already described, except that no "shifting" 

 is praticed, and in most cases less attention and care is given to the cultivation of the beds than 

 at Stateu Island and Patchogue. 



The obtaining of the seed is worthy some mention, however. The smaller planters in the 

 eastern part can get nearly enough close at home for their purpose, and are to be seen in great 

 numbers tonging and raking all along between Great Neck and Hell Gate. The best ground is 

 directly in the steamboat channel, where the cinders falling from the innumerable steamers that 

 pass daily furnish a capital "cultch" for the oyster-spat to attach itself to. This ground is gradu- 



