Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1885-12-05
A New System of Oyster Culture.

A New System Of Oyster Culture.
WASHINGTON, Nov. Is, 1856
A new system of oyster culture, has
been proposed by Mr.. John A. Ry-
der, of the Smithsonian Institution
Which has a most important bear
ing or the future of the oyster
question. The underlying princi-
Pile of Mr.. RytleI's discovery is that
the swimming embryos OF fry of
the oyster will diffuse themselves
through the three dimensions of a
body of water. This has led to his
devising a system OF receptacles
containing oyster shells. upon
which his fry can attach them
selves in great numbers. An idea
of the capability of the new system
may be gathered from the fact that
from ten to twelve thousand BUSH
els of such shells can be exposed to
the hordes Of swimming fry pass
ing in and out with the water asst
flows over the apparatus. Prof.
Brooks, of Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity, has also been at work on this
problem and has presented meth
cd of increasing oyster propagation
but his plan is included in that OF
Prof. Ryder, and is greatly imprcv-
ed upon. The fish commission in
tend to use Prof. Rydcr's apparatus
in the lower Chesapeake. The fol
lowing description OF the apparatus
Will be of interest.
The canal provided with lodges
near the top to support tberecepta
cleS for the cultch. These are form
ed of vertical wooden strips six
inches wide, six feet long. and Sc
cured to each other parallel and
three feet apart by a cross piece at
the top and two horizontal side
pieces, six inches wide, secured
Two feet six inches from the top OF
the vertical pieces. Coarse wire
netting is theIsecurcd to the edges
of the vertical strips below the two
parallel cross pieces. This netting
will form, with the wooden frame, a
basket, three feet wide, three feet
deep and six inches thick. Such a
basket will hold somewhat over
three bushels Of oyster shells as
cultch. The two cross pieces, which
project beyond the vertical pieces
will support the receptacle with
the shells which it contains. One
of those is allowed to every running
foot of canal, the receptacleS being
placed six inches apart. a pond
forty feet square and accommoda,
ting a hundred bushels of spawn,
ing oysters will supply enough fry
for canal 400 feet long and hold.
ing 1000 bushels of shells as cultcl
in 400 receptacles. The latter will
cost $40 per hundred, or $3.50 for
400 feet of trench. One 6ushel of
oysters wili-yield about one billion
of fryIThe pond; With its hundred
kbushelS of spawning adults, will.
therefore, yield about 100 billions
of fry. This vast multitude of oys
ter brood will be waited back and
forth through the collectors by the
tides $50 times during the spatting
season, Which lasts for ninety days.
That is, one hundred billions of fry
will he waited through 1.200 bush
els of shells $50 times during the
season. These shells Can be kept
clean by vibrating the receptacles
OH the lodges which support them.
twill thus be seen that OIL one-tenth
of an acre l canplace as much cultch
as could ordinarily he placed on
four acres. Or, by my method, on
one acre l can put down as many
shells as could he put on forty acres
by those who simply SOW the shells;
that is to say, the business of get
ting SETS for seeds can be con.
denSed so as to cover only one.
fortieth of the ground now covered.
Thousands OF acres Of the fat
malslly land slirting the CheSa
reake may now be converted into
establishments for the culture of
oyster spat or seed oysters, to be
afterward sown on the open beds
and allowed to grow to marketa.
bic size. The future of the oyster
industry i'll the South is hencefortb
assured. All that has been needed
is the adoption OF a rational, eco
nomcal method CT spat culture,
such as the one here proposed
This system Of plant, if adopted,
will pay for itself in fifteen months
in its yield Of seed oysters alone.
This ought to be sufficiently ell
couraging to the most conservative
oystelmen, whom it is proposed to
convince of the feasibility of the
new system whether they now
choose to believe it or not"
Danger from Lfehtning.