440 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



sponge; cuttings variously mounte;d on ce;ment disks and re:ady for 



planting 



existing protective laws. All other suit- 

 able grounds will then be reserved by the 

 state to be leased to oyster planters, 

 whose enterprise will be encouraged and 

 their rights protected as was not possi- 

 ble heretofore. 



oysters in LOUISIANA AND SPONGES IN 

 FLORIDA 



Up to 1898 there were few planted 

 beds of oysters in Louisiana waters. In- 

 vestigation of the oyster grounds by the 

 bureau in that year, however, led to the 

 passage of beneficial laws and proved a 

 general stimulus to oyster culture in that 

 state, as is shown by the fact that some 

 20,000 acres of bottom were soon under 

 cultivation. In 1906 the state oyster 

 commission again asked the bureau's 

 assistance, and large areas of utilized 

 bottom were examined to determine their 

 productive capacity. The conditions 

 were found to be exceptionally favorable, 

 and experimental plants produced 33^ to 

 4 inch oysters in quantities of 1,000 to 

 2,000 bushels per acre, within two years 

 after the cultch was put down. 



In Barataria Bay, where there had 

 been no oysters whatever, such promising 

 beds were established that several hun- 

 dred acres of adjacent bottom were im- 

 mediately leased by prospective planters. 

 Other localities, though they have so far 

 shown no such conspicuous commercial 

 enterprise, may be expected to prove 

 equally productive. 



Experiments in sponge culture have 

 been in progress for several years, and 

 have now developed a practical system by 

 which sponges may be produced from 

 cuttings at a cost much less than that en- 

 tailed in taking them from the natural 

 beds. In view of the more rapid deple- 

 tion of the natural beds which will un- 

 doubtedly result from recent changes in 

 the methods of the fishery, the bureau is 

 convinced that the preservation of the 

 American sponge industry will depend 

 upon cultivation ; and as it is estimated 

 that about $1,500,000 worth of sponges 

 were taken in Florida during the past 

 year, the failure of the fishery would be 

 a serious commercial loss to the state. 



mussels for PEARL BUTTONS 



In cooperation with the Rhode Island 

 Fish Commission, the bureau has devel- 

 oped new methods of lobster and soft- 

 shell clam culture which are being ap- 

 plied with success in New England. Ex- 

 periments with the hard-shell clam are 

 now in progress at Beaufort. 



Important work recently undertaken is 

 an effort to establish mussel culture in 

 the Mississippi Valley. The supply of 

 mussels in those waters, on which is based 

 a pearl-button industry valued at about 

 $5,000,000 per annum, with an invest- 

 ment of $6,000,000, is being rapidly ex- 

 hausted, and the mussel fishermen and 

 manufacturers recognize that without 

 scientific cooperation of the government 



