THE OYSTER INDUSTRY. 543 



property, to be had fbr the dredging, and furnishing their share of bones of contention in the inces- 

 sant controversies. 



The preparation for an oyster farm here is different from that in Rhode Island. Except within 

 the harbor no great spaces of mud require coating over, and no spot where there is not a swift 

 current is considered -worth the trouble. Coarse beach sand is used for pavement, when needed, 

 200 tons to the acre, which can be spread at the rate of five sharpie-loads a day, at no great 

 expense. The sand forms a crust upon the mud firm enough to keep the oyster from sinking, and 

 it need not be renewed more than once in five years. In some cases, also, the ground, though 

 hard, may be infested with vermin, coated with viscous slime, or for some other reason be in 

 in bad condition. It is then thoroughly cleaned by dredging. 



These preliminaries accomplished, the planter is ready to found his new colony. His first 

 act, late in the spring, is to scatter a quantity of full-sized-, healthy, native-born oysters, which he 

 calls " spawners." From 30 to 50 bushels to the acre is considered a fair allowance. The bed is 

 then left untouched until the second week of July, at which date the spawners are ready to pour 

 out their ripened eggs. The planter now employs all his sloops, and hires extra men and vessels 

 to distribute broadcast, over the whole tract he proposes to improve that year, the many tons of 

 shells that he has been saving all winter. These shells are clean, and fall right alongside of the 

 mother oysters previously deposited. The chances that they will secure the lodgment of spawn 

 are good. 



Sometimes the same plan is pursued with seed that has grown naturally, but too sparingly, 

 upon a piece of uncultivated bottom ; or young oysters are scattered there as spawners, and the 

 owner waits until the next season before he " shells" the tract. 



The expense of this whole proceeding is not very great, while there is a chance of almost 

 fabulous profits. I was given an account of the cost in three cases. In one, the founding of a 

 " farm " of 50 acres cost $1,650 ; in another, 60 acres cost $2,255.30 ; and in a third, 25 acres were 

 fully prepared for $1,240. I think it would not be unfair to average the cost of securing, survey- 

 ing, and preparing the deep-water beds at about $40 an acre, or about $4,000 for 100 acres. To 

 this must be added about $2 au acre for ground surveys, buoys, anchors, &c. 



It was long ago understood that when artificial beds for the capture of spawn were proposed 

 to be prepared, the substance of the stools did not so greatly matter as their position and condi- 

 tion at the time of spawning. Just what makes the best lodgment for oyster spawn intended to 

 be used as seed has been greatly discussed. Oyster shells are very good, certainly, and as they 

 are cheap and almost always at hand in even troublesome quantities, they form the most available 

 cultch, and are most generally used in America, where they are regularly saved for the purpose, 

 and command a market price above the reach of the lime burner, who formerly consumed almost 

 the whole accumulation at the opening-houses. Nevertheless, a more fragile shell, such as a 

 scallop, mussel, or jingle (Anomia), is certainly better, because the growth of the attached oysters 

 wrenehes the shell to pieces, breaking up the cluster and permitting the singleness and full devel- 

 opment to each oyster that is so desirable ; or, if the old shell does not break of itself, the culling 

 of the bunch it supports is far more easy than when the foundation is as thick and heavy as an 

 oyster's or clam's shell. To aid this same end tiles have been used as collectors of oyster spat, 

 covered with a certain composition which easily peels off, but is firm enough to hold the young. 

 The anchoring of an old seine at the bottom, the suspending of scallop, cockle, or other thin shells 

 in the water by stringing them from stake to stake a little way under the surface, or the copying 

 of the French fascines, would be other means to the same end, advisable especially where it is 

 intended to move the young to new beds. Small gravel has been tried on parts of the Connecticut 



