Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-06-06
THE OYSTERS FUTURE
Prospects for a Mollusk Much Be-
loved by Epicures.
HISTORY OF THE BIVALVE.
a creature OF Marvellous Reproductive Co.
pacity. Though Kept Back by Circumstances
Over Which 1t Has No Control-Ths Fish
Commission Comes to Its Aid.
OYSTERS AS AN ARTICLE OF DIET WERE


the lowest savages in the earliest times Of which
anything is known, back in the pateolithic age,
found these mollusks much to their taste and
devoured them in large quantities. They AZ
forded food readily obtained on the seacoast.
with no more labor than was involved in wad-
ing for them at low tide, fetching them ashore
and opening the shells.
The earliest explorers who reached America
found the Indians well acquainted with oysters.
In fact, those of the aboriginees who dwelt along
the seashore depended largely for food supply
upon the bivalves. At intervals they held
great oyster and clam festivals of which the
modern New England clam bake is merely
perpetuation, cooking the shell fish to-
gether with maize by means Of stones
previously heated with fire. The expert
Yankee clam-baker has not materially al
tered the method. though he has amplified
the feast prepared by it with the addition of
white and sweet potatoes, chickens, fish and
other delicate comestibles All along the coast
OF New England, particularly that of Maine,
have been found numerous mounds of shells.
mostly those OF the oyster. which until recently
were supposed TO be the remains Of old sea
beaches. One of these vast heaps running for
long distance up both banks of the Damars-
Gotta river from near the mouth contains
100000 cubic feet of this material. while
ago it was discovered that the Patagonians
at the end of the western continent and the
Eskimo at the other end lived literally in the
midst of shell heaps Of great dimensions, their
dwellings, being established upon and sur
rounded by the remnants Of former repasts
dating back to the dinners of remote ancestors.
Whereupon it dawEed upon the scientific mind
that the shell MOUNDS along the seashore of the
United States were not ancient beaches at
all. but the refuse of aboriginal kitchens.
Having got so far this idea they
dug into the heaps and found them to be actual
store houses of material for prehistoric re-
search-books, from another point of view in
which might be read the annals of the savages
for centuries before Columbus. who ate these
very clans and oysters. From the flint tools
and other excayated evidence it was learned
that they must have been of a very degraded
type indeed. 1t does not require much in
te!ligence to appreciate the oyster and any one
might make the discovery that the bivalve was
good to eat by simply watching the birds 60 for
them at low tide Sometimes the latter suffer
for the qualification of their appetite by getting
caught In the bite of bearded veteran and be-
ing held until miserably drowned. The method
OF utilizing the oyster adopted by the noble red
man. SO called because he isn't red at all. was
to send the women and boys out to wade for
the tidbit, while he sat upon the shore and
gorged himself until unable 20 go another
without bursting. 1t is proved by the
record of the shell banks that In
prehistoric times he opened the shells by roast
ing them usually. Remains of fires are found
all through the mounds. If he preferred them
raw he struck the mollusk a sharp blow near
the middle, just over the big muscle that holds
the valves together. thus paralyzing the ami
NAL and making it relax Its grip upon the meat
within. Stone knives and hatchets served ad-
mirably for the final process. Such was the
earliest American yste: fishing. probably made
Use of for purposes of barter with the inland
natives. who received the shellhsh in exchange
Tor other goods.
THE INDUSTRY SERIOUSLY THREATENED.
Reckless over fishing of the natural oyster
beds in this country have given rise to scarcity
where once there was plenty, and at present
the very existence of the industry is seriously
threatened. The fish commission has been APP
pealed to for help In the emergency and inves-
legations are being conducted in the
Chesapeake. to be extended later all along
the Atlantic coast, with a view to find
ing out just what methods had best
be resorted to for resupplying the waters
with this indispensable mollusk. Artificial cul-
ture is to be resorted to in some shape and oys-
tiers are to be restored to these shores Just as
the shad have been and by similar means.
Luckily, the fact has already been demonstrated
that the propagation of the bivalves on scien-
tific principles is readily practicable, it only
remains to determine precisely what method
can be most advantageousy taken up.
Most people would be disposed to Imagine
that artificial oyster culture was a new idea,
but such is very far from being the case. As
early as a few years before the birth of Christ
it was carried on successfully in Europe, at
Lake Fusaro. and it is recorded that Roman
knight, who lived a century or two earlier, was
the inventor. However, in order that the first
principles concerned may be understood. it is
necessary that explanation should be made of
the manner in which this curious animal prop
agates kind.
OYSTER PROPAGATION.
The oyster is an animal organized very much
as is human being, though in simpler man.
ner. 1t has brain, a heart, liver, stomach.
intestines, gills which serve as lungs, a mouth
and vent. Also /: possesses q reproductive
sac. Formerly it imagined that the
creature had no sac, but now it is known that
an oyster Is either male or female and that the
latter produces eggs, while the former supplies
only reproductive germs. female oyster
may be said to LAY" on an average 49, OO, 900
male distributes in the water SO many
billions of tadpole-shaped spermatozoa that
no one as yet has even attempted to count
them under the microscope. Unfortunately.
the pear-shaped eggs and the microscopic tad
poles simply let loose in the water and il
is only where male and female germs come to-
gether that young oysters are formed. Thus it
Is seen that only one out of ever so many
thousand possible oysters gets SO far as
beginning, and when it is said that
of the eggs can be successfully fortified
a feeble notion is given Of the possibilities of
the sort of farming referred to in this article.
Upon opening oysters during the breeding
season, say July, very many of them will be
found to have their reproductive sacs dis
tended with eggs or milt. The expert can tell
one from the other by their appearance. and by
mixing the two in vessel skillfully he is able
to secure the impregnation of practically all
the ova 1t is easiest to chop up the male and
farta 10 rxxrsth &t.,~
bowl of water. Thus myriads of embryo oys-
tiers are formed. all ready to grow up for
market ii proper conditions are supplied.
PRIMITIVE METHODS EMPLOYED.
In practice, however, it 10 much easier to
supply these conditions and to accomplish the
purpose in view by permitting natural methods
to take their course, with judicious assistance
by artitice in the shape of encouragement and
protection. So far as they went the primitive
able. The people who practiced oyster culture
with weights attached to them upon the
oyster beds so that the wooden bundles hoated
at small distance from the bottom. Upon
them the newborn mollusks sought roosting
place, 80 that the fagots became covered with
growing young Ones and being pulled up after
a couple of years or more were found to have
formed great clumps Of marketable oysters.
method practically the same is worked to this
day on the Paguanock river, near Groton,
Conn.,, where birch bushes are stuck into the
muddy bottom at spawning time. They are
left undisturbed for eighteen months, at the
and of which thew are lifted ont and are found