3b2 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
The fascines, freshly prepared during the winter, are by degrees taken out during 
March, April, and May, and anchored in deeper water, often in clusters marked with 
buoys. In the early season the outgoing currents are said to be usually the most 
fruitful in spat, and the culturists arrange their fascines so that they may best be 
utilized. In May, when the spat is beginning to form in shallower water, the fascines 
are usually taken up, well rinsed, and, as they are now water-soaked, are suspended in 
the little parks as shown in the figure. It is here that the fascines get their second 
crusting with spat, often becoming whitened with accumulated oysters. They are 
allowed to remain in the better conditions for growth given by the shallower and 
warmer waters until late in the fall, more often until the following spring. By this 
time* the oysters have firmly attached themselves to the support, the shells often 
growing around the slender twigs of the fascine, so that they are apt to be naturally 
detached, even if the underlying bark has been loosened. 
It is not until early in the following spring that the fascines are taken ashore and 
deposited in huge banks, as a preliminary to weaving the ropes. The attendants 
now proceed to take them apart, chopping each bough with its attached oysters into 
twigs about 8 inches long (PI. lxxvi, Fig. 1). The oyster twigs are now deposited in 
baskets and are carried to the next attendant, who splices them ingeniously between 
the strands of rope, so that when completed the twist of the rope, together with 
increased weight, keeps the twigs firmly in place. Thus arranged, the rope bristles 
symmetrically with its oyster -bearing burden. Cargoes of these ropes are then rowed 
to the parks and put in place. The growing conditions of the oyster now become 
especially favorable. The heavily burdened ropes swing and vibrate in the currents, 
allowing each- oyster to escape the accumulating sediment and to secure an equal 
share of the volume of floating food. Their growth is certainly rapid; an oyster 
three-fourths of an inch in diameter in March, when suspended to the rope, hasattained 
by October about four times its original diameter, and has thus become marketable. 
Two years and a half, however, are generally allowed to pi'oduce an oyster of first 
grade in the Tareutine market. 
Another advantage the culturists claim for the rope system of culture is the ease 
with which the entire product of a park can be overhauled, cleared of attached ascidians, 
mussels, and bryozoans, and, in general (the oysters being in plain sight), guarded 
from more dangerous enemies. It is evident that rope culture economizes space to a 
wonderful degree. A single rope 14 feet in length is said to rear about 2,000 
marketable oysters. The baskets, seen in the sketch, p. 360, are an essential part of 
the Italian method of culture. In these, stray oysters collected from the bottom, as 
well as grown oysters taken from the ropes during the process of overhauling, are 
given their final growth. Storage is thus conveniently managed, the capacity of the 
baskets being more or less accurately known. The baskets vary considerably in 
shape and size, the most usual form being loosely woven and shaped like a cheese-box. 
* Tlie length of time that the collections are allowed to remain in position appears to be largely 
dependent upon the character of the season. The collectors from deeper water that have been rinsed 
and placed in the parks are often added to, if the season appears promising, by fresh fascines an- 
chored in series and allowed to rise to within a yard or two from the surface. This degree of sub- 
mergence appears to have been found most favorable for set. At this depth it is certain that the 
attendants can most readily give them the necessary care. They are clearly seen from above, are 
readily secured by a cross-barred staff, brought to tlie surface, rinsed of sediment, and replaced. 
