The daily gazette., 1881-09-21
oyster. and oyster Farming.


The United States is the greatest oys-
reproducing and consuming country In
the world, and our own Chesapeake is a
natural preserve superior to any other.
How long it will last, In view of the
recklessDess practiced at proper and i'm
proper seasons by vessels intent only on
gaining cargo in the quickest time, is
a question. Already experts have told
us Of oyster-beds exhausted, and others
showing signs OF lessening production.
II ever our oysters cease TO afford us, by
natural increase, supply adequate to
the demand upon them, Prof. Brooks
has shown from his researches how
they may be artiiclally propogated. We
eau also resort, en- large scale, to the
methods for cultivating the oyster
adopted In England, and especially In
France, where they are carried to per-
fection. Hearing Of the exhaustion Of q
great proportion of the natural OYSTER
beds of those countries, we are apt to
underestimate the extent to which the
artificial propagation Of the oyster 10
carried on there. But when we reflect
that sixty or seventy million dollars
worth Of oysters are raised annually In
the Thames and other English rivers,
and at Archachon and similar estaures
| in France, we must confess that this
sum represents by no means con-
temptiBle Industry. In oyster farming
q suitable place Is selected, combining
salt and fresh water, II possible, as at
Archachon. The oysters, enc year old,
are bought wherever they can be OBJ
tanned. Some, of late, have been Inn
ported from the United States. Newly
made beds have TO be watched for five
years. After that they are either a
known success or failure. The young
oyster feeds and fattens until four years
old; but, singular to state, will not
spawn In his artificial home. No efforts
have induced him to do 80. The only
fertilization comes from imported spat,
and that, in Great Britain at least, has
within the last two or three years been
unsatisfactory. II, as Prof. Brooks, oi
the Johns Hopkins University, believes,
the time Is coming when the oyster may
be propogated as the shad and trout are
now, we may help these oyster farmers
As 1t is, they are casting about for Q
remedy even, as we have said, sending
to the United States for "spatting oys
ters."
There are thirty-four Thousand
breeding establishments (oyster farms
in France, where more care is bestow.
ed in rearing the oyster than in any
other country. The embryo oysters
at Archachon are made to attach
themselves to tiles. These, at tn,
| proper time are lifted, and the young
agaia transplanted. Six months late
they are again transplanted, whel
they are sorted according to size ant
allowed to remain undlsturbed for twt
years. The prosecuted bivalve Is thel
taken up and deposited nearer the sea
In salt or saltish water, where he fat
tens and thrives amazingly. If be i
intended for an ordinary market he Il
let alone until wanted. If, however
he is to be of the finest flavor ant
quality, he is next taken to Marennes
, on the banks of the river Seudre, whicl
discharges It's waters into tho Attain
q tic, and where green plant abound
that imparts the color 80 s0indispensabl
: to Paris gou met. Our transplante'
beds are very simply managed, and
the propagation of the oyster shall, i
: the course of time, have to be conduct
ed on grand scale, American inge
:, puity and experience, aided by tn
Q suggestions OF scientific men, wi
I doubtless find methods for their cas-
y propagation from spat, as our fs
commissioners are now doing BY th
artificial impregnation of the ova
the trout, the salmon, the shad and th
bass.
For several res sons it will probabl
never be necessary for persons livin
on Chesapeake bay or Its tributaries
take the trouble In raising oysters th'
y the English and French oystermt
g. bestow on the production of the choi'
. delicacy. The bivalve in these waite
q Ii at home and increases with astol
ishing fecundity. The flats on y
virginia side OF the Potomac river t
many miles above its mouth arc, wi