The Portland daily press., 1888-09-24
OYSTER FARMING.


The Townships, Quarter Sections
and Lots in Long Island Sound.
The bottom of Long Island Sound is being
laid off into townships, sections, quarter
sections and lots, and the land sold at auc-
ton. The scheme is not real estate specu-
lation, however. 1t is bona fde sale of
perpetual franchises of submerged lands
suitable for the cultivation Of oysters The
survey and sale Of lands is conducted by the
fish commissioners of the State of New York,
under authority vested in them by an act of
the Legislature passed last year. This law
applies to all of the land under the waters Of
the State suitable for shell-fsh culture, but
is of-the most Importance in reference to the
lands under Long Island sound, Staten Island
sound and Princes bay. Most of the lands
a re in the neighborhood of the old natural
growth oyster beds. These beds are free TO
all, but as they contain only an inferior
quality of oysters and are not extensive
enough to supply the demand. artificial beds
are necessary. twenty-five years ago, says
the New York Mail and Express, the oyster
supply came almost entirely from the natu-
raj beds. Owing to reckless and excessive
tonning and dredging of the beds, and to the
pollution of the waters by the establishment
Of oil refneries and factories in their vicinity.
cases entirely disappeared.
Nearly all of the oysters that now come to
this market are from planted beds, and the
oystermen to-day are not merely fishermen
as in former times, but are planters and cul-
tivators of the oyster as well. But for artif-
cial planting oysters would soon become ex-
tinct in the waters near this city The natu-
raj beds are now of most Importance as
source of seed oysters to be planted and cul-
tivated in other places. Empty shells are
dumped for the purpose Of collecting the
"spat," which adheres TO any firm substance
with which 1t comes in contact If good
''set' is obtained clusters of minute oysters
form SO thickly as almost to conceal the
empty shells. After time they are taken
up and transplanted to the artificial beds.
They are scattered over the bed so that they
shall not be crowded and Idwarfed, but may
grow rapidly and attain large size.
The enormous demand for oysters occa-
stoned by the large consumption Of this city
and vicinity, the numbers packed here and
shipped to inland points and the export
business which has grown to be of much i'm
portance. has induced thousands Of men to
engage in planting. and gathering oysters in
| the waters OF the bay and sound, The i'm
| portance or the industry is shown by the fact
that upward Of 1000 men are engaged in the
business in this State. A capital Of over
| S6,000,000 is represented. The condition of
| the industry before the matter was taken in
| hand by the commission was getting to be
! hopelessly involved. Planting was done ac-
| cording to the ideas Of each individual inter-
| ested,, and overlapping beds, causing legal
and physical controversies were frequent.
| The beds were Of every conceivable shape,
| and the problem of mapping them was as
| difficult as Chinese puzzle In fact the
| blder oystermen did not believe it possible to
| lay out a correct map. The rights of the
| Planters were often enforced by the aid of
| $hotguns, and numbers Of lives have been
| lost in the oyster fights in the years gone by.
phe Staten Island oystermen at one time
mounted cannon on the shore TO keep the
Jerseymen from taking oysters from the
beds that were claimed by both parties. The
| Jerseymen used to resort to night dredging,
but the alarm would be given, tugboat
manned, and the poachers chased to the Jer-
Sey shore by armed men. Legal controver-
boundaries of their oyster beds have been
| fought in the courts, and thousands of dol
lars in lawyers fees and other expenses,
without settling the points in dispute.
| Under the new system the State fish COM
missioners are authorized to survey all lands
suitable for shellfsh culture and to sell per-
petual franchises for plots not exceeding 800
acres in extent to any one applicant. A
charge OF 81 per acre is made for unoccupied
lands; and If there is more than one applI-
can't the plot is put up at auction and sold to
the highest bidder. If the land is already
occupied and cultivated in good faith the
plot is sold to the occupant at the nominal
rate OF 10 cents per acre to pay the cost OF
surveying and mapping.
Engineer w. q. Ford, Jr., who has charge
Oh the surveys, gave an interesting account
o. his work to a Mail and Express reporter
He is provided with a government schooner
that was built for the coast survey. The
vessel is Of 100 tons register and is provided
with complete apparatus for photographic
surveying, dredging and deep-sea sounding
Important work in locating and defining the
natural beds and laying out the lands suit
able for planting has already been done.
The surveys. were begun at Little Neck bay,
near Bayside, l.. |. One hundred acres
were laid out at this point Wooley's Cove,
between Elm point and Hewlett's, was next
surveyed, and abour 100 acres suitable for
oyster planting were staked eff. Between
Hampstead harbor and Oyster bay 150C
acres were surveyed, and off Lloyd's Neck
loo acres were marked off for planting. In
Smithtown bay from $500 to 1000 acres were
found to be suitable and were mapped out.
The land under water is laid out in town
ships containing 1000 acres, quarter sections
OF go acres and 100-acre lots. The metric
system OF measurement is employed, and il
Long Island Sound the scale is one in 10000
Even at this scale the chart of the sount
occupies dozen maps, each one of which i
o. inches long, The length of the territory
makes 1t necessary to take the curvature O.
the earth's surface into consideration, ant
the result u that each section is not perfec
square. The distance east and west is ais,
SO great that each section is laid off by lati
tude and longitude, independent of its neigh
1 1913. Aho ohOiC olsiidlo VI Llt Oult6u Ctdbe
coast survey are used as a base of operations
whenever practicable, and in other cases tn,
signals are established by the engineers. Ii
some cases these signals are lighthouses
church steeples or cupolas Of houses, and il
other cases they are marble monuments
erected for the purpose. Each one has
distinctive name, and complete description
OF them are kept with the records of the fisl
commission. Points on the beds are marked
| by two buoys made of scantling, to whicl
heavy stones are attached bymean of ropes
IL the buoys remain together it is an indica
ton that they have not moved, but if the,
are found separate it is seen at once tina
they have shifted. In shallow waters eacl
mans lot Is marked by stakes at the corners
In old locations the shape of the lots vary
Some are long and narrow. others square, tri
angular, or many sided, according to the wa,
the planters laid them out. In all of the new
lowed.
When the innovation on old methods wa
instituted the oystermen objected. The,
Thought that some OF their rights were be
, ing usurped. but now that they understan,
the whole project, they make no further OBJ