PRODUCTION AND COLLECTION OF SEED OYSTERS 
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different towns in accordance with this law was to restrict the fishery and prevent 
the depletion of the bottoms. 
The first attempts to transplant oysters were made about 1810 in New Jersey, 
when small oysters were taken from crowded reefs and planted on private bottoms 
(Stafford,- 1913). In 1845 planting of oysters gathered from natural bottoms was 
carried out rather extensively in Connecticut. The next step in developing a method 
of oyster culture, which originated in the United States independently of those in 
Europe, was made in 1855, three years before Coste began his experiments on the 
cultivation of the European oyster in France; in this year for the first time, shells for 
catching spat were planted in the harbors and bays of the Connecticut shore of Long 
Island Sound. In 1870 planting operations were extended to deep water of Long 
Island Sound, so that the latter date marks the beginning of the elaborate system of 
oyster culture which is now in operation in northern waters. 
At present nearly all available grounds for oyster planting in the northern waters 
have been leased to private ownership, and the exploitation of public natural beds 
has been almost completely discontinued. South of Delaware, the oyster industry 
is still based primarily on the exploitation of the natural public beds carried out 
under the supervision of the respective State governments. There is no doubt, 
however, that the increasing depletion of the natural beds will eventually result in 
their total destruction. Efforts exercised by different States for maintaining the 
productivity of public oyster bottoms by planting cultch and seed oysters at present 
are inadequate to prevent their gradual destruction, and there is no doubt that in 
the future the sounder system of oyster farming will be introduced in these waters. 
The main difficulty which the oyster industry experiences in the northern waters 
consists in the lack of seed oysters due to insufficient and irregular setting. The 
most important seed-producing areas are located in the harbors or at the mouths of 
the rivers, where they are greatly affected by pollution. Many of them are so badly 
depleted and the number of adult oysters on them is so small that no more setting 
takes place in their vicinity. With the diminished oyster population in the seed- 
producing areas and the destructive effect of pollution on spawning and setting of 
oysters, a reliable supply of young oysters has become of great importance; in many 
localities it is the key to the future success of the oyster industry. 
Two possibilities of rehabilitation of the industry are open for experimentation : 
The artificial propagation of oysters and the development of a better method of 
production and collection of seed oysters under natural conditions. 
ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF OYSTERS 
After the first successful experiments in artificial fertilization and development 
of the eggs of the American oyster made by Brooks (1879), many attempts were made 
by various investigators to rear the larvae to adult marketable sizes. Rice (1883), 
Winslow (1884), Ryder (1883), and Nelson (1901, 1904, 1907) tried different methods 
to keep the oyster larvae alive and to bring them to a setting stage. In the reports 
published by these investigators, one finds the description of many difficulties en- 
countered in the attempts to keep the minute, free-swimming organisms in jars and 
to provide them with the necessary supply of food. Although Ryder (1883) and 
Nelson (1901, 1904, 1907) were enthusiastic and believed in the practicability of 
their methods, their experiments did not pass beyond the laboratory stage and the 
artificially raised larvae failed to set. 
