536 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



b 

 gathered in their populous river-channels, are now almost abandoned, owing to exhaustion of the 



natural growth in the river. 



At Bridgeport something over 100 acres are rented from the town for oyster-culture, and a 

 considerable business is growing up under favorable circumstances. The same may be said of the 

 Milford shore, but probably the total yield from native plants at Westport, Bridgeport, and Mil- 

 ford together will not exceed 15,000 bushels a year, worth $15,000. 



I have already spoken so fully of the harbor of New Haven, the next locality, and the seed 

 gathering at its upper end, on previous pages, and shall have so much to say of it hereafter, that 

 it would be a waste of space to go into details here. None or few of the New Haven men plant 

 exclusively native seed oysters, while all use more or less of this kind in connection with their 

 raising of Chesapeake stock and their deep-water spawn catching. All available land on both sides 

 of the harbor is occupied, and it amounts to many hundreds of acres. The seed is gathered in 

 the sound, and large quantities are resold to Rhode Island and other planters. While it is impossi- 

 ble to discriminate between the yield from transplanted small seed and that produced by the deep- 

 water beds (see subsequent pages), I suppose that 75,000 bushels are annually raised in the former 

 way. The methods of transplantation do not differ essentially from those pursued elsewhere, except 

 that rather more, care is exercised than in the East River. 



Oyster seed is transplanted to inshore beds at Branford, Stony Creek, Guilford, Clinton, Say- 

 brook, and New London, but the business is small in each locality, and the total yield of market- 

 able oysters from this source does not exceed 40,000 bushels. 



NAREAGANSETT BAY. Our next point of inquiry is Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. Here, 

 as already stated, little remains of the natural wealth of oysters upon .which the early planters, 

 half a century ago, could draw to what seemed an unlimited extent. Now the seed used must be 

 imported almost entirely from other States. The planting-grounds of Narragansett Bay and its 

 tributaries lie in the Kickamuit, Warren, Barriugton, and Palmer Rivers, on the eastern shore. 

 These are clear streams, with strong tideways refreshing inner basins, shallow and quiet. Rum- 

 stick Point separating Warren River from the bay, is a favorite planting point. Beyond this, along 

 the eastern shore of Providence River, come next the planting areas at Nayat Point (Allen's ledge) 

 and Drownville, an important and busy place. 



Reaching back into the country north of Drownville, and protected from the outer bay by 

 Bullock's Point, is Bullock's cove, a shallow estuary, by many regarded as the very best place to 

 plant oysters in the whole State. The only reason I have heard assigned is, that the bottom has 

 many springs in it, supplying constant fresh water. Above, ground is planted as far as Field's 

 Point on the western side. Southward, from Field's Point to Starvegoat Island, runs a reef nearly 

 dry at low tide. This reef was among the earliest tracts taken up by the veteran oysternian, Rob- 

 ert Pettis. When, about 1861, the star-fishes were depopulating the beds all over the bay, he 

 alone was so situated that he could get at them at low tide and destroy them, and his good luck 

 was the occasion of great profit to him. Formerly natural oysters grew abundantly all over this 

 part of the river, but the main deposit was just south of Starvegoat Island, in the center of the 

 tract of 160 acres now known to oystermen as Great Bed. This, in old times, was the great scene 

 of oyster raking, and it is more than thirty years since these beds were wholly exhausted. Every 

 square rod of this area is now utilized, and large planting tracts also exist at Patuxent, Gaspe" 

 Point, Canimicut Point, and, to a slight extent, in the harbors of Wickford and Westerly. There 

 is a constant tendency to enlarge this area, which, in 1880, comprised about a thousand acres, by 

 extension toward deeper water ; but it must not be forgotten by the reader that a larger part of 



