THE OYSTER INDUSTRY. 545 



of New Haven Harbor are peculiarly liable to disasters of this kind, while in other parts the drift- 

 ing of mud and sand causes large losses. It is believed by many that the beds in the sound, in 

 water more than 25 feet deep, are safe from disturbance from gales ; but others decline to put 

 their faith in any depth thus far planted. Frequently oysters cast up by storms, if attended 

 to immediately, can be saved and replanted with profit. Now and then great tracts of promising 

 youug oysters will die from no apparent cause. The true explanation probably is that they have 

 starved to death, some evil current turning aside their food. Lastly, there is the constant warfare 

 made upon oysters, young and old, by the active enemies that swim in the waters above them or 

 creep on the bottom beneath. 



Granting escape from catastrophes, there must of necessity occur, under the most favorable 

 circumstances, a great waste in the process of growth of young oysters left undisturbed on the 

 artificial beds. Leaving out all other adversities, this will arise from over-crowding. More "blis- 

 ters" attach themselves upon a single egg than can come to maturity. One or a few will obtain an 

 accession of growth over the rest, and crowd the others down, or overlap them fatally. Even if a 

 large number of young oysters, attached to a single stool, do grow up together equally, their lose 

 elbowing of one another will probably result in a close, crabbed bunch of long, slim, unshapely 

 samples, of no value save to be shucked. Notwithstanding this fact is well known, it is the gen- 

 eral custom to leave the beds untouched (unless a portion of the bed is raked at the end of a year, 

 to be sold as miscellaneous ''seed" to eastern planters) until it has attained the age of three, four, 

 or five years. Then it is worked, at first, probably, with tongs and rakes, getting up the thickest 

 of the crop. This done, dredges are put on, and everything that remains oysters, shells, and 

 trash is removed and the ground left clean, ready for a second shelling, or to be planted with 

 seed, perhaps right away, perhaps after the area has lain uncovered to the rejuvenating influences 

 of the sea for a year. 



The more advanced and energetic of the planters, however, pursue the following plan : 

 When the bed is two years old, by which time all the young oysters are of sufficient age and 

 hardiness to bear the removal, coarse-netted dredges are put on, and all the bunches of oysters are 

 taken up, knocked to pieces, and either sold as " seed, " or redistributed over a new portion of 

 bottom, thus widening the planted area, and at the same time leaving more room for those single 

 oysters to grow which have slipped through the net and so escaped the dredge. The next year 

 after, all the plantation, new and old, is gone over and suitable stock culled out for trade, three- 

 year-old East River oysters being in demand for the European market. This further thins out the 

 beds, so that the fourth year the main crop of fine, well-shaped, well-fed oysters will be taken. 

 During the succeeding summer, or perhaps after a year, the ground will be thoroughly well 

 cleaned up, and prepared for a new shelling.* 



* In my report for 1880 I made the following remark as to the extent of the deep-water oyster fanning at New 

 Haven : " Out of the 7,000 or 8,000 acres ' designated ' in New Haven Harbor and its offing, only from 3,000 to 3,500 are 

 in actual use as yet. The largest possession is Mr. H. C. Howe's ; he operates upon about 1,200 acres. Several other 

 planters have from 200 to 600, while many have 100 acres under cultivation." This has been enormously increased 

 during the four years since elapsed. In the third report (1884) of the shell-fish commissioners of that State a statis- 

 tical paragraph is given, which I quote, though it applies to the whole State: "The total area of cultivated ground 

 iu Connecticut in 1882, under State jurisdiction, was 9,007 acres, according to the tax-list of that year. The area then 

 cultivated under town jurisdiction is not known, but an average of the various estimates would make it at least 2,000 

 acres. This would make the whole area of Connecticut in 1882 equal to that of Rhode Island in 1884 [elsewhere 

 given as about 11,000 acres, yielding annually 1,000,000 bushels, worth ft, 500,000]. During the last two years, how- 

 ever, our area has been largely extended, and there are probably not far from 20,000 acres under cultivation to-day. 

 There were two hundred and sixteen owners in 1882 against two hundred and ninety in 1883, and the number increased 

 annually. Of those owners only five have 5 acres and under apiece, twenty-two have between 5 acres and 20 acres 

 apiece, and the remaining two hundred and sixty-three have 20 acres or more apiece." 



SEO. v, VOL. ii 35 



