The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1893-10-11
OYSTER FARMING.
CULTINhTING THE BiNAlVE IN
LONG ISLAND SOUND.
Difficulties That Attend the Harvest,
ing of a Crop I'm Twenty five
Feet OF Water Tho
Oysters Enemies.

when the demand for smaller oysters
began to increase it was found neccs.
cary to cultivate them, and the result
"f this has been the establishment of
sixty miles of oyster farms along
the Long Island Sound shore, the in.
vestment of an enormous capital, the
building up of an important industry
and the transfer of the control of the
New York market from Chesapeake
Bay to Long Island Sound. Force of
circumstances is bringing the Mary
land oystermen into the business of
cultivation, as the natural growth
oysters in Maryland waters are steadily
thinning out, and even to-day an oy ster
would be an expensive luxury but for
the timely beginning of oyster farm
ing in Long Island Sound about five
years ago.
There is everything III name in
the clam and oyster trade. All small
clans are known as Little Necks.
There are probably five million bush.
els eaten annually, but there are not
more than five thousand bushels dug
from Little Neck Bay, from which the
name is derived. The same applies to
Blue Point and Shrewsbury oysters.
Large capital is required TO success
fully engage i'll oyster farming and
great risks are taken, although per
haps no greater than the truck farmer
takes on land. The capital must be
locked up for three yenrs after the
first planting before the farmer" ie
rewarded by harvest. but then, if all
conditions are favorable, his dredges
bring up small fortune from an or.
dinary sized bed The Long Island
farmers are oil getting the fever for
submarine farming since they have
had opportunity to- see how much
money is in the business
Long. patient and expensive work is
necessary to properly plant an oyster
he'd. After the survey is made and
the buoys marking the boundary lines
are placed in their proper positions,
the bottom is thoroughly dredgel and
all refuse removed. 1t often takes
three months to dredge bed of 100
acres, and the average expense of the
crew and dredge is $50 a day. Then
the bottom is lined with clean, brokon
stone or oyster shells. If shells are
used the average is 800 bushels to the
ncre. They are purchased Mt Balti.
more, and are bought by schooner
loads at cost of from six to ten cents
bushel. II is Of tho utmost import.
ance that this carpet of shells he laid
Sin the nick of time" Tho usual
spawning time for oysters is from July
20 to August 30. They may be early
or late, according to the degree of
summer heat. When spawning they
expel II white, stringy fluid. which
clings to the clean shells or stones and
in time develops into oysters. When
the spawning begins no time can be
lost i'll spreading the shells or stones.
An hours delay may cause the loss OF
thousands of dollars, and such losses
have been experienced in number oil
cases this year, rs the unexpected hot
weather i'll July caused the oysters to
spawn before the farmers were ready
with the shells, which were on the way
from Baltimore and were of no use or
value when they arrived.
in about six weeks the oyster begins
10 take form and then looks like tiny
bug. The shell begins to grow, and,
il guarded from their natural enemies,
in two years the young oysters cover
the bottom several inches thick They
ere then transplsnted to another bed
in a more protected spot to mature,
which requires two years more. The
successful farmer uses three beds, one
for planting and two for maturing,
and thus when once under way he har.
vests n crop each year.
An idea of the profit in this method
may be obtained from the experience
o. a farmer who has already amassed a
large fortune in the business Three
years ago ne planted 40, 900 bushels on
fifty acre bed This year he hss
transferred 10000 bushels to matur.
ing bed, which will be double their
present size when mature, making
Ia, 900 bushels. He left at least 25,.
0o) bushels on the old bed, which will
also double, making nearly or quite
200, 800 bushels to harvest next year,
ut nm average price of Sl.1O per
bushel. " there is fifty acre farm
a0ove water thatever yielded 5000, 900
in four years il is not ON record.
But il il not all clear sailing and
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