Fishery Board for Scotland. 
xxix 
(save as nurseries for seed). Those on Ehode Island and Connecti- 
cut are reported extinct ; and even the great beds of Maryland aud 
Virginia are, it appears, becoming rapidly exhausted. 
About ten years ago the marked decrease in the supply of oysters state inter- 
in the United States attracted the attention of the State Legis- ference - 
lature.s to the subject; and there is now in operation in Long oyster Farms 
Island Souad a system of artificial beds, which are held as private held as prjvaf < 
property by individual fishermen for a small annual payment to pro * >ei y ' 
the State, and are cultivated by them like an oyster farm, The 
first experiments in this direction were made, it is said, near the 
city of New York about the beginning of the century, but it had 
apparently fallen into disrepute, until it was again taken up by Mr 
H. C. Eowe of Newbaven, in Connecticut, who about the year 1874 
began sowing shells in deep water. The success of the system in 
Long Island Sound has been so great that Mr Eowe now sows as 
many as 100,000 bushels of shells annually upon what is now the 
most colossal oyster farm in the world, embracing an area of 15,000 
acres of the bottom of the sea. The example of Mr Eowe has been 
followed by others engaged in the oyster industry in the State of 
New ¥ork, and under the fostering care and judicious guidance of 
the Commission appointed by the State, and presided over by Mr 
Eugene G. Blackford, Commissioner of Fisheries, it has become a 
very important industry. The success of the system is sufficiently 
indicated by the fact, that while in 1860 the vast majority of the 
oysters sold in the New York market came from natural beds of 
oysters of natural growth, to-day 60 per cent, of the annual supply Sixty per cent 
is from planted beds, and the oyster industry is rapidly passing f^m planted 
from the hands of the fishermen to those of the planter and oyster- beds, 
culturist. 
It is well known that the artificial propagation of the oyster is Artificial 
as easy as any other kind of fish hatching. The sexes are distinct o/the^yst' 
in the American oyster, and the removal and artificial fertilisation of 
the eggs is not difficult; but, as the matter was explained to one of 
our number* during a recent visit to the City of Washington by 
Colonel Marshall M'Donald,of the United States Fish Commission, 
although it is possible to produce a set of spat in this way, it has 
not yet been accomplished to an extent sufficient to be of much 
value. ' The failure,' said Colonel Marshall M'Donald, ' is due to 
' imperfect trials, but we have full confidence in being able to 
' obtain some methods of artificial culture of the oyster which can 
' be carried on by private individuals.' In the United States the 
point appears to have been of less importance, from the abundant 
supply of seed oysters which is obtainable from certain parts of the 
coast, at a cost of 40 cents to a dollar per bushel, according to 
quality and size. It has accordingly been unnecessary to do more 
than make arrangements for their being planted under proper con- 
ditions, and carefully preserved against their natural enemies until 
they come to maturity. 
An oyster bed is a kind of community, having many wants in 
common, and finding their food in the minute forms of animal and 
plant life floating in the adjoining waters. It is a community, 
however, with few friends and many enemies, such as the starfish, 
* The Deputy-Chairman. 
