1882. ] SHELL-FISH COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT. 63 
down their oysters on beds exclusively in shallow waters, 
chiefly in the brackish waters of the harbors and bays. 
But these crops were frequently injured by the drill, buried 
up in sand by storms, and often destroyed by extreme cold 
weather. Gradually grounds were sought in deeper waters 
where the chances of disturbance from these causes were 
lessened. And now the most approved bottoms are those 
under water from twenty to seventy-five feet deep, free 
from mud and ledges. The deep-water cultivators proceed 
in three different ways to make beds. (1.) The bottom 
being properly cleared off, the seed-oysters, mixed with the 
eravel, jingles, and other shells just as they are gathered 
from the natural beds, are distributed thereon more or less 
uniformly, and there left to grow. (2.) Or the bottom is 
spread over with clean oyster-snells, just before the spawn- 
ing season begins, and brood oysters, twenty-five bushels to 
the acre, are distributed over the bed. (3.) Or, if the bed is 
in the neighborhood of natural beds, the shelled bed is left 
without further preparation to catch the spawn as it is 
drifted above it. Sometimes the shells fail to “catch a 
set,’ and this makes it necessary to rake over the shells 
the following year, or to cover them over with more fresh 
shells, for the next spawning. There is always an abun- 
dance of spawn in the waters of the Sound, and when a set 
is secured an enormous crop is the result. On a private 
deep-water bed, during the past summer, the dredge was 
drawn at random, in the presence of the commissioners, 
and from an ordinary-size shovel-tull there were counted 
206 young oysters in excellent condition of the average size 
of a quarter of a dollar. As many as a hundred young 
oysters have been counted, growing on a medium-sized 
oyster-shell. 
The beds are carefully tended, and no pains are spared 
to kill all the enemies of the oysters found among them. 
The star-fish and periwinkle are the most destructive in 
deep water. The star-fish breaks the thin ends of the 
valves, or, as some say, ejects into the oyster a fluid that 
paralyzes it so that it cannot close its valves. He then 
protrudes himself out into the shell of the now helpless 
