EUROPEAN METHODS OF OYSTER-CULTURE. 
363 
Another device used in giving the oysters their linal growth is a net-covered iron ring, 
which, often having a large diameter (5 feet), may support four or five hundred oysters. 
An important branch of the industry at Tarente consists in the export of seed 
oysters and of oysters of nearly marketable size which are intended for fattening in 
other localities, e. g., Fusaro. Seed from half an inch to 1 inch in diameter sold during 
April, 1892, for about 30 cents per 1,000. The price of oysters two years old was then 
about 80 cents per 100. The average number of marketable oysters produced from 
each fascine is said to be about 500. The total production of the Tarentine industry 
can hardly be stated. An estimate based upon the production of four single parks 
would give the annual yield at about 20,000,000. 
Compared with the industry at Tarente, oyster-culture in the historic parks near 
Naples is decidedly unimportant. A brief discussion of Fusaro and the Lucrine Lake 
should, however, be given as representing the best types of private industrial estab- 
lishments and as illustrating the tidal pond culture of Italy. They are both within 
a few hours’ drive from Naples, and are not over a couple of miles apart. Fusaro, the 
more northern, shelters under the promontory of Cumae, while Lucrinus, whose size 
was greatly reduced by the upheaval of Monte Nuova in 1538, is close to the Roman 
Bairn. The entire region is one of great interest to strangers, and the inns in the 
neighborhood of the oyster parks owe not a little- to those who evade Pozzuoli, hunt 
Roman villas, and are inclined to dine upon oysters, seriola, and falernian. 
Fusaro, described by Coste in 1859, had its industry destroyed about ten years 
later, partly from volcanic causes and partly by lack of proper cultural care. Its 
decadence was caused, according to M. Bouchou Brandely,* who visited Italy in 1879, 
(1) by the decomposition of organic accumulations which empoisoned the water; (2) 
by overcultivation of mussels; and (3) by excessive salinity of the water caused by 
the opening of the second outlet from the lake into the sea. Oyster-culture has, 
however, been successfully reinstated by Sr. Salvatore Milosa during the past decade. 
The present conditions of the lake and the methods pursued in its reestablishment are 
therefore of interest. 
Fusaro t is crescent shaped, with canals communicating with the sea at either 
end. It is large, about 2 miles in circumference, but shallow, averaging perhaps about 
4 feet. Near the southern end, where the large hotel or Casino Beale is built, the 
water is deeper, shelving at points to about 2 fathoms. A greater volume of water 
was secured by dredging out the accumulated sediments, and has proved one of the 
great causes of recurring success in oyster-culture. The former shallowness of the 
water allowed its temperature to become excessive. The same process of clearing 
the basin aided the good results obtained by improving the ingress of a small fresh- 
water stream at the lake’s northern end. By this means it became possible to reduce 
the salinity of the entire water volume, a cultural advantage which was recognized 
even in the time of Pliny.J The water of Fusaro showed (May, 1892) a density § of 
1.019 to 1.023, fresher than the neighboring sea by 5° to 9°. The temperature of a 
# U. S. F. C. Bull. 1890, iu reference list, No. 93, p. 48. 
t U. S. F. C. Bull. 1890, in reference list, Nos. 96, 236, 42, 50. Also Issel, Ostricoltura, Genova, 1882 ; 
Philpots’, 1. c. ; Aldieri, Dei Laglii Lucriuo, Fusaro e Mare Morto, Napoli, 1879. 
t Pliny ( Bk. vi) records that oysters became larger and finer in the neighborhood of river mouths, 
and that they decrease in size and number in deeper sea water. There can be but little doubt that 
the value of Lucrinus was not a little dependent upon the less salty character of its water. 
§ Sp. gr. at northern end of lake, generally, 1.021, 79° F. ; at middle of lake, 1.021 to 1.025, 80°; 
at south bank, 1.019 to 1.021, 79° to 82°; sp. gr. of neighboring sea, 1.028, 78°. 
