Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-06-06

settles oo"n-in case he has not been gobbled
up. which is most probable-upon something
solid, and makes up his mind 20 .pend The
remainder OF his days in quiet respectability
he invariably chooses his left side 10 lie upon
like many persons who cannot repose comfort
ably otherwise. and proceeds to grow.
AsroSIsHrSaLY RAPID GROWTH.
This last he does with astonishing rapidity
Though microscopic at birth. at six weeks Of
age he is as big as q silver half dime and by
the time he gets to be year old he measures
from an inch to an inch and half in length.
lnder favorable circumstances he may live 10
be from twenty-five TO thirty years old. How
an oyster makes his shell has always been re-
garded as first-class mystery, but il oughtnt
TO be such any longer. From season to season
he deposits upon the inside of his shell
very thin layers Of mother of pearl, each
one little larger than the last SO
that there Is gradual growth outward from
tne hlnge all around the opening. Thus at the
hinge is found the thickest part. while the
EDGES, formed by the progressive extension of
the layers, are kept sharp as knife blades. An
oyster shucker vii, tell you that the dark part
which he cuts away from the shell is the heart
and that the animal dies when his instrument
sewers 1t. The fact is that this is not the heart
a. All, put only the strong muscle which holds
the valves SO closely together.
When You eat il a good oyster is as much
ahye as You are. You have the advantage of it
on Bob Burdettes principle. When asked why
he smoked cigars the eminent humorist re-
phed; Because am the biggest, and the cigar
can help itself"
THE SHE'LL OF AN OYSTER
The shell of an oyster il hinged like a check
book. At the hinge inside is an elastic pad
which keeps the valves apart save when the
creature employs the powerful muscle above
mentioned TO close them. Within the shell is
lined with feshy mantle" fringed with SEN
sorry tentacies. When these tantacles are
touched intelligence that something threatens
Is telegraphed by the nervous system to the
brain OF the mollusk and from the brain to the
plg muscle which shuts the shell instan-
taneously. 1t 10 the same process precisely as
tnat oy which human being withdraws his
person upon feeling alarm. We were all oys-
tiers once, If the evolutionist is to be believed.
III every egg produced were fertilized-in
snort, II the conditions accomplished on a small
scale could be followed out in nature-a single
pair OF the biyalves would produce in five geuer-
atoms 10000, 0O0. 900 600 600 OOO 600 600 900 900
OF the mollusks. or enough to compose a man
eight times as big as the world. As things go,
however, there is only about one chance in
TWO million that an individual oyster will
reach maturity. The oyster preserves its
species not by protecting the individual
offspring, which is left to take care of itself
entirely, but by the production of great num-
bers. Animals which produce the most numer-
GUS onsprlng do not necessarily occupy the
earth. Man, the most numerous Of all large
mammals. produces ordinarily but one at a
birth. Things seem to be arranged that way in
nature with wonderful intelligence. Each fe-
male cod voids hundreds of thousands of eggs,
but their only prospect of becoming repro
ductive is in the chance that they will en-
counter the milt of the male while floating
upon the surface OF the waves. At the opposite
end OF the fish proposition is the giant skate
called the devil fish, ;" which bears but a sin
gle offspring at a birth. the female carrying it
81 hal ~ Il faas L.,
well able TO take care of itself
SECRET OF SUCCESSFUL CULTURE
The secret Of successful oyster culture, such
as is intended to be practiced in the Chesa-
peake and generally along the Atlantic coast,
lies first in providing suitable surfaces for the
fertilized spawn-known technically as ''spat''-
To attach itself TO, and secondly in the protec-
ton OF the young oysters from the numerous
enemies which threaten their youthful exist
ence In the East river, near New York. and
elsewhere along the coast. the practice Of
throwing overheard quantities Of oyster shells
to collect the spat has been found greatly
successful Abroad, in France and elsewhere,
much profit has been made from the device
OF placing convex pieces of earthenware, like
water pipes cut in two lengthwise, on the bot
tom in oyster producing shadows. Upon these
the young oysters collect in vast quantities.
TO be subsequently scraped of and deposited
in beds for seed" The business of producing
such seed, usually on oyster shells. for pur-
poses Of propagation and marketed at SO much
per bushel Is an important industry at present
in Long Island sound.
TRANsPLANrINa THE MoIIusKs
Since the sixteenth century oyster breeders
on the coast Of France have been in the habit
of transplanting the mollusks they propagate
in this fashion to shallow ponds open by tide
flooding to the sea, where they fatten and ac-
quire greenish hue and peculiar flavor much
priced in Paris. The transplanting is done
when they are about one year old, and three or
four years OF deposit in the ponds are required,
during which they have frequently to be
cleaned and transferred from one reservoir to
another. In these ponds the oysters spawn
excellently, but the young do not grow. The
breeders can give color and flavor, hut they can
not provide this mollusk with a foot for loco
motion. In other words they cannot transform
the oyster into a mussel. however hard they
may try. Attempts at oyster farming most
carefully planned have not always been at
tended with success. Experiments made in
this line on a large scale in England resulted in
an estimate that each marketable specimen pro-
duced cost the producers from $50 to q, 500.
OTHER ISHABrTANrs OF OYSTER BEDS.
An oyster bed is by no means occupied and
inhabited by oysters alone. Such a spot. in
fact, is richer in general animal life than any
other part of the sea bottom. When dredge.
filled with all sorts of other creatures besides
mollusks, which have gathered in the locality
because it is productive of food in plentiful
quantities. There are nimble pocket
crabs" slow "horn crabs" abandoned
snail shells occupied by hermit crabs,
sophisticated snails, star fish, sea urchins the
size of small apples, greenish and bristling
sea worms of various hues. black muscles and
white cookies. Even the shells Of the oysters
themselves are covered with barnacles, over
grown with yellowish sponges, bedecked with
tassels that are each Of them communities of
thousands Of bryozoa, and ''sea-hands'' re-
sembling in size and shape old gloves, them
selves assemblages Of polyps. Between the
very layers Of the older oyster shells are dis
covered greenish worms with bristles and ten
tacles. On single oyster thus fetched up will
be found by the scientific searcher as many as
200 different species Of animals
VEGETABLE FOOD.
All human food is vegetable In its origin.
II there were no plants every animal would
starve Immediately. This is true of the land
creatures; it is likewise the case with those Of
the sea. The predatory and carnivorous blue
fish preys upon smaller fishes, the latter upon
fishes still smaller and some Of them upon mi
mute crustacea; these last devour still smaller
animals. which, in their turn, subsst upon the
microscopic plants that swarm at the surface
Of the ocean. However long the chain, all ami
mails Of the land or water depend upon plants
for sustenance. They only can transform in
organic matter into the shape requisite for
supnortinp animal life To the ord;parv