Morning journal and courier., 1886-08-03

A Delegation From Baltimore Visit
New Haven oyster Beds They
Invest1gate-What They Saw and
Thought.
The oyster steamer Gordon II. Rowe
carried out notable party yesterday after
noon. It consisted of Hon. Thomas S. Hold
son, State Senator from Crisfeld, Md, DR..
H. A. Brooks, Baltimore Sun, Jas. Fl. Good
sell and Thos. Hamilton. The result of the
Investigations will be printed in the Balti-
more Sun this morning. The article which
DR.. Brooks writes to his paper is as follows:
The Maryland party to investigate the Con-
necticut deep water oyster culture started
out this morning. The valuable oyster
grounds under the waters of the Sound were
well examined during the day. The
Marylanders were. aboard the
dredging steamer the Gordon Rowe, Captain
A N. Shute, which took the Investigators on
the trip starting from the head of the New
Haven harbor, where native oysters grow.
They next went down over the native beds,
and before the steamer had gone half mile
encountered myriads of stakes and poles; all
waving in close proximity, and marking the
metes and bounds of small oyster lots aggre-
5ating thousand acres, all of which are
Bay. New Haven harbor, five miles long
and two miles wide, is literally decorated
with grotesque marks of various
kinds. They vary from simple poles
to more elaborate structures marked
with the owners names, or flying
flags The swift currents carry many of
them out of sight to reappear in their proper
places when the tide slackens. In places from
the appearance of these upright sticks and
poles it would seem impossible for even an
expert to make anything of them. Yet 1t
was said that mistakes rarely occur. Own
ers know their peculiar bushtop signals,
signs. rags and paint marks. The owners
are however in oyster season attending to
their grounds daily. Before the dredges
were dropped overheard Mr.. Rowe and Cap
tain Shute consulted their books, maps ana
bearings to see that the boat was in the right
farm, which particular piece of land has
thirteen hundred acres in IT.. The
dredges brought up about eighteen
bushels each at maui ana
consumed about half minute IN
being hauled through about five fathoms of
water from the bottom to the surface. 1t
was remarked the first two or three hauls
that there we're not many stars. Said Mr..
Rover eff we had stars on all our beds for
one month we should all go out OF the busl-
ness. There would be no oysters left" The
dredges brought up besides oysters, starhsh.
periwinkles, rock crabs, calico crabs, horse
shoe crabs, sea spiders, hatfsh, founders,
sea robins, skatefsh, Holsters and many
nameless things. Lectures were given on
the different enemies of the oyster and their
various modes of operation explained. The
results of the dredging in different sections
was on the whole very satisfactory. Oyster
shells put out q year ago without spawns
were covered with young and healthy oysters
in quantities. The Marylanders said that
Chesapeake Bay would grow them twice the
size in the same time. When there was any
mud on the oysters they were washed by
sousing the huge dredge in and out the wa
ter, done as readily as boy would churD a
stick up and down in the water. Finally
the starfish we're struck in quantities feeding
on the oysters and the guests soon had the
top of the boiler covered with Stars IN pro
cess of drying to take home. The little farm
where these stars were found had 10000 oys-
ters on it and Mr.. Rowe learned for the first
time that they were wiped out Dredgeful
after dredgeful of oyster shells
and stars were hauled up.
Mr.. Rowe had thought the bed safe He
said, 'fI have seldom seen them worse than
this" Mr.. Rowe said, ct planted four mil
lion and four hundred thousand bushels of
shells in the last fouI yoHrs, ond l should
have 9, 900 of bushels of oysters in the water
now.n 1t costs about 10 cents per bushel to
plant shells on a large scale. Further OUT III
the Sound large quantities OF very me three-
ear-old oysters were found in excellent con-
dition These it was said, have run the
gauntlet of the stars and have escaped. The
oyster is about the star as child Is ABOUT
the measles, if he does come to grief IN child
he has a good chance of escape.
This fine show of oysters was kept up the
balance of the day, evidently much to the
qualification of those Immediately interest
ed The Maryland party agreed IN saying
that the Chesapeake would grow as large and
fine oysters as the three and four year old
oysters before them in half the time. 1t
was pretty we'll agreed by those present tna5
the abundance and price of oysters in the
future depended on what was done with the
prolific beds of the Chesapeake.
Hon. Thos. S. Hodson said last night that
| he was very much disappointed about the
northern oyster. They lack, he claimed,
twice the length of time it takes a SOUTH
ern oyster to develop; and our oyster
reaches twice the size of the northern bl-
valves in the same length OF time Inc
quality of the Connecticut oyster Is much
inferior inside the harbor to the southern
oyster Outside they are considerably bet
ter in flavor We sell an oyster from IAN
gle Sound somewhat inferior to the mother
oyster at the rate of 8 or 10 cents bushel.
They grow without any cultivation whatso-
ever and are in very large quantities. Ihey
are not planted at all now. Senator Hodson
said that he should continue his lnVesuga-
tions and anything which might be OF IN,
terest to the southern dealers he "ooio
Senator Patrick Reilly, of Baltimore, joined
the party from Maryland at the New Haven
House last night Senator Reilly is interested
in the oyster business in the South. Senator
Hodson had bill before the House last year
to protect the oyster interests of the South
1t was put off on the excuse that 1t was not
| time for it, and that the southerners were
not prepared for it. Senator Kelly, VINO
| was in the House, arose when the bill was
laid over and said: We have oystermen and
tongsmen, shuckers and sellers, restaurants
and oyster houses, but you kill a bill that
furnishes all these employment. Without the
bill these cannot be supplied.
The Baltimore Sun, one of the leading pa
| pers of the South, has for years given the
| oyster interests of Maryland much attention
and deserves high praise for the interest
shown in sending a representative to Con
necticut to record the observations OF the
Maryland investigating committee The Sun
| is free from prejudice and does not object TO
learning from northern minds Credit has
recently been given in its columns to the en-
| ergetic citizens of New Haven who went to
Baltimore and established there the oyster
trade, which they subsequently made the
| To-. int l,o