PRODUCTION AND COLLECTION OF SEED OYSTERS 
205 
bags and filling them with shells is shown in Figure 2. The wire mesh was purchased 
in 24-inch rolls and then cut into pieces 3 feet long. (Fig. 2, Nos. 1 and 2.) Each piece 
of wire was then folded lengthwise and the ends closed either by twisting the wires 
together or by weaving a short piece of No. 18 annealed wire through them. (Fig. 
2, Nos. 3 and 4.) The wire bags are now ready to be filled, and in this form they can be 
easily stored until it is time for shell planting. The filling of the bags was accomplished 
easily by placing them in an oblong wood box, 36" by 8" by 8", and adding sufficient 
shells to fill them to the top. The 
bags were then closed tightly by 
drawing and weaving the edges to- 
gether with galvanized, annealed 
wire No. 18. The bags of shells 
can be handled roughly without 
breaking open. They can be set 
out singly or can be stacked in tiers 
several feet high, thereby greatly 
increasing the quantity of cultch 
that can be planted on a given 
area of bottom. 
The cost of the material for 
each bag at ' current retail prices 
was 5 cents for those of 2-inch 
mesh and slightly more for 1 12 - 
inch mesh. The oyster or scallop 
shells which were used cost 10 
cents per bushel. The cost of the 
labor employed in making the bags, 
filling, and planting them averaged 
approximately 10 cents per bag, 
which gives a total cost of 25 cents 
for each bushel of shells that was 
planted. The method of making 
and filling the bags can be greatly 
simplified and the cost reduced 
when the operations are carried 
out on a commercial scale. Ex- 
periments with the shell bags were 
made at Onset, Mass., Milford, 
Conn., and Great South Bay, Long 
Island, in 1927 and 1928. The 
arrangement and position in which the bags were placed and other details of the ex- 
periments are given under each locality, together with the results that were obtained. 
The method of collecting spat in lath containers or in wire bags is based on the 
assumption that with the present method of scattering shells over the bottom only 
a small percentage of oyster larvae present in the water finds a place of attachment, 
and that the majority of them perish. The main problem to increase the produc- 
tion of seed oysters is, therefore, to find the method whereby the natural supply of 
larvae will be fully utilized. This can be accomplished by increasing the amount of 
4 . 
Figure 2. — Method of construction of wire bag collector. (Expl ana " 
tion in text) 
