Morning journal and courier., 1883-09-01
Rearing Oysters Artiacially.
Successfully Grown From the Spawn i
 an InclOsure.

Successfully Grown From the Spawn i'm
 an Inc1Osure.
 Mr. J. A. Ryder, a special assistant of the United States Fish Commission, announces that he has successfully reared the American oyster from the egg at Stockton, Worcester county, Md, on the grounds of the Eastern Shore Oyster company during the past sum- mer Messrs. Fl. Fl. Pierce and George V. Shepard of the oyster company placed all facilities at the disposal of Mir. Ryder for carrying out his work, and afterward con- tinued the experiments under his direction The apparatus was as simple as could be de- vised in order to insure success, and was automatic in it's action. A pond was exca- vated in the salt marsh near the shore of Chincoteague Bay and connected with the lat ter by 8 trench about 10 feet long, feet wide and feet deep. Before the water was let into the pond wooden diaphragm, made with perforated boards lined with gunny- cloth and filled with clean beach sand was placed in the ditch and so secured that abso- lutely no water could get into the pond from the bay, except such as filtered through the diaphragm. The rise and fall of the tide alone was thereafter depended upon to change the water in the pond, and it was found to rise and flowing through the diaphragm. This constituted the whole of the ap- paratus designed to confine the artifcially fertilized spawn. The spawn was taken by method originally devised by MT. Ryder, and already described in various published reports. After the spawn was taken it was allowed to stand in pails with an abundance of clean water for period of three to five hours, so as to give the oyster eggs chance to develop the swimming condition. It was then poured into the pond or inclosure at va rious points to insure distribution. Stakes were then driven into the bottom of the pond to which dead oyster shells were suspended on wire, the stakes put down at different dates being marked so ss to distinguish them. The suspended oyster shells were introduced so as to afford the young fry surfaces to which they could afix themselves. The first spawn and shell collectors were put into the pond July 7th, and some of the shells were found by MT. Pierce on August 22d to have spat attached ranging from one-feurth to three fourths of an inch in diameter Some samples of these young oys- ters are now in Mir. Ryder's possession, prov ing conclusively that oysters may be reared in inclosed ponds such as are here described, in which it has also been found that the natural food of the animal is produced in large quantities. The experiment. has been so conducted as to preclude any doubt that the spat obtained has been derived from any source except that of the spawn artifcially fertilized and introduced into the inclosure- It also marks the most important step that has yet been made in this country in oyster culture. The methods employed are likewise so simple that they are available in the hands of unskilled per sons. full description of the methods pur- sued will soon be published in the reports of the United States Fish Commission.-NeW York Times.