Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners. 87 
The mechanism for connecting the spar to the sinker (g, h, 
j, k), consists of a U-shaped piece of wrought iron, attached 
to the lower end of the spar by means of lag screws and bolts, 
and a chain. The sides of the U-shaped piece are flattened to 
a thickness of 1% inch and a width of 2 inches, but the middle 
part is left round to prevent its being worn by the friction 
of the chain. Two sizes of chain are used, 14-inch and 34-inch, 
with simple split links to join the ends of the chain when it is 
passed through the U-shaped iron on the spar and the staple 
in the sinker. 
The average price of these buoys completed is $2.57 each, 
the average cost of the spars, $1.05, that of the sinkers, 92 
cents and that of the connecting part, 60 cents. 
Stake buoys are used to mark the corners of oyster bars 
over which the depth of water does not exceed 10 feet. They 
are made of bull-pine saplings, from which the bark has been 
removed. As in the case of the floating spars, the part be- “ 
neath the water is painted but with copper only, the upper J 
part painted white. ‘The lower end is sharpened to facilitate 
driving or pumping into the bottom. 
