IN FEATHERS AND FUR. 
255 
above the mud, and that those which did so were nicer than the 
others that grew in the mud. From this he took an idea, and at 
once proceeded to try it. He planted in the mud a long row of 
posts, about a yard apart, and six feet above water, and laced 
together by branches. The rows were made to form the letter W, 
his initial letter. The branches caught the little Mussels, when 
first thrown out into the water, for they are something like an 
oyster, and want a holding on place. 
He soon had a splendid crop of Mussels, as he deserved, and 
his neighbors began to make Mussel farms for themselves, and now 
the little bay is full of them. 
When the little Mussels are about as large as a bean, they are 
transplanted to the most favorable place for growth, and when they 
are old enough to live in the air for hours at a time, they are trans- 
planted again. Sometimes they are moved three times before they 
are taken to market. 
