Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-11-08
OYsTER PROpAGaTION.
How the Delicious BivaIves are 20 be
Reared Artificially.
From the New York World.

From the New York World
Since experiments are to be made upon the
artificial propagation of oysters in this state,
some account of what has been done elsewhere
is in order. The Chesapeake Geological labor
atory, conducted under the control and at the
expense of Johns Hopkins university and estab-
lished in 1878 at Fort Wool, Va, deserves credit
for discovering the possibility of this operation.
In 1872 while DR.. w. K. Brooks, the director
of the laboratory. was at work at Crisfield,
Md. studies of the oyster beds were begun and
have continued most of the time SINCE During
1888 most of DR. Brooks attention was devoted
to the oyster industry, and the result is costly
monograph. the Report of the Oyster Com
MISSION. published about three months ago.
The entire subject is economically so important
that review Of various experiments is justi-
fed.
Before DR.. Brooks experiments, in 1879. the
European oyster authorities were accepted
without question BY American writer's In the
oyster of northern Europe the eggs are Matched
inside the parent shell and protected till able
70 iastcn themselves. DR.. Brooks, studying
the early stages of the development of the
American oyster. found that 1.-The unfertiZed
eggs are thrown out In immense numbers into
the water, where they are fertiliZed and develop
without the need of protection" and also the
perfect practicability of rearing oysters in I'M
limited numbers as soon as the practical diff
cultles are overcome. Lieut.. WinslOw, in 1880,
while in Cadz. Spain repeated Dr. Brooks ex-
perimentS and found that the oyster of the
south of Europe Is like the American oyster in
its breeding habits. and in November of that
year he read paper on this point before the
Maryland Academy of Science.
The French government. alive to the enor-
nous commercial value Of such a discovery.
even greater in its possibilities than artificial
nsh culture, which generation ago was largely
subsidized in France, appointed commissioner,
who reported in 1899 that he had met with en-
tire success. He states that he was urged to
the experiment with the Portuguese oyster nv
the experiments Of DR.. Brooks with the Viz
ginian oyster. He used a pond 100 metres in
area and one metre in depth. In June and July
artiiciaily impreGnated oyster eggs were intro
due"d. tiles We're furnished for the attachment
90 eiit.. aud the enemies of the oyster We're of
course c&c1Gcd The result was that BY Octo-
h.F t.tN ou1C oysters measuring from two
a..- t. ioiu-fftts OF an inch in diameter. could
Ha oouGCed OH single tile. The paper in which
Sire feps by which NJ Bouchen- Brandeley
achieved this success are described has been
published in the bulletin of the United States
flSii commission for April 49, 1888 The same
experiment was at once tried in Maryland by
Mr. John A. Ryder, and the results published
last September. under the title Rearing Oys-
ters from ArtfCiaily Fertilized Eggs" Expert
merits this year in Maryland are on a more ex-
tensive scale, and with every prospect of sue
cess.
1t will thus be seen that artificial oyster crl-
furc promises TO become business of large d.
mcnSons, employing many persons and greatly
increasing the present oyster supply 1t is high
time, for all the best oyster beds even in private
hands. SLOW signs of exhaustion, while the
state ownership of the famous Chesapeake beds
has been productive of endless difficulties and
enormous waste Baltimore oysters are no
longer as cheap nor Of as fine quality as they
were few years ago, but artificial culture is the