PRODUCTION AND COLLECTION OF SEED OYSTERS 
259 
bushels of shells per acre. By the former method there is an efficient distribution of 
8 bushels of shells per square yard (when 4 tiers are used) while by the latter, only 
0.1 or 0.2 of a bushel are planted on the same area. Several samples of the scattered 
shells from the surrounding bottom were collected and counted and on these the 
setting ranged from approximately 1,500 to 2,000 spat per bushel. On one square 
yard of bottom in the best setting region in the harbor a production of 18,000 seed 
oysters was obtained in a single stack while on the scattered shells only 400 seed 
oysters were collected. The question naturally arises as to what the production 
would be on the scattered shells if they were planted more densely. This was tested 
out at a concentration of 2 bushels of shells per square yard in which the setting 
was found to be extremely poor and at best was less than 1,000 spat per bushel 
while in the wire bags only a few feet away over 3,000 spat were found on the same 
amount of shells. In the dense planting of shells, setting occurred almost entirely 
in the upper or exposed layer where the shells were much cleaner than those under- 
neath. 
The number of shell bags that can be planted successfully in a single stack 
will vary somewhat in each locality according to the depth of water, tidal conditions, 
and especially the zone in which setting takes place.. Similar experiments were 
made in cooperation with the Bluepoints Co., at Great South Bay, Long Island, 
where the zone of setting extends from the bottom to nearly high-water mark. 
The bags were arranged on the deck of the oyster boat in tiers of six and the entire 
stack lowered over the side by means of the galvanized wires that bound them together 
at the corners. Twelve such stacks were set out in water 8 to 10 feet deep, and 
practically every shell caught a certain number of spat, most of them being well 
covered with from 50 to 100 per shell. The setting in the bags was decidedly heavier 
than it was on the shells scattered over the bottom and likewise the growth of the 
spat was much more rapid in the elevated collectors. In South Bay the setting 
is oftentimes extremely heavy (1,000 to 2,000 spat per shell) but for some unknown 
reason the spat invariably die during such prolific years unless they are elevated a 
few inches above the bottom. Therefore, the successful use of shell bags in this body 
of water is significant as it demonstrates not only a practical method of fully uti- 
lizing the heavy sets that occur but especially a means of keeping the spat alive. 
EXPERIMENTS IN 1928 
In 1928 the wire-bag method of seed-oyster collection was put into practice on 
a small commercial scale in four different harbor areas in Connecticut. The plant- 
ings were made in Milford Harbor by the Connecticut Oyster Farms Co., in New 
Haven and East Haven Harbors by F. Mansfield Oyster Co., in Branford Harbor 
by E. Ball & Co. In each locality the plantings were successful; the production of 
seed oysters ranging from 5,000 to 25,000 spat per bag. In Milford Harbor, where 
there were plenty of spawners, the setting was heaviest and varied from 9,000 spat 
per bushel, or an average of 30 per shell to over 25,000 per bushel or 85 spat per 
shell— the most intensive setting occurring in the bags that were planted just above 
low-water mark. The shells on the bottom and outer layer of the bag were covered 
with from 47 to 195 spat per shell while those further inside averaged approximately 
25 per shell. Complete counts of the shells in many of the bags showed that the 
attachment of the larvae within them had been exceedingly uniform and that less 
than 1 per cent of the shells had failed to collect spat. A summary of results obtained 
