South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1893-09-28
OYSTER FARMING.
CULTIvATING THE BIVALVE IN
LONG ISLAND SOUND.
Difficulties That Attend the Harvest
ing OF Crop In Twenty-Five
Feet OF Water - Tho
Oysters Enemies.

hatuIdi KIowtn, anu IL was In
those days that Chesapeake
Bay and tributary waters supplied and
controlled the New York market. But
when the demand for smaller oysters
began to increase it was found neces-
sary to cultivate them, and the result
of 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
Pay 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 oyster
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 in a name in
the clam and oyster trade. All small
clans are known as Little Necks.
There nre 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 in oyster farming and
great risks are taken, although per
haps no greater than the truck farmer
takes on land. Tho capital must be
locked up for three years after the
first planting before the farmer is
rewarded by harvest, but then, if all
conditions are favorable, his ;1fedges
bring up a small fortune from an or
binary sized bed The Long Island
farmers are all 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
bed. After the survey is made and
the buoys marking the boundary lines
are placed in their proper positions,
the bottom is thoroughly dredked and
all refuse removed. It often takes
three months to dredge bed of 100
acres, and the average expense of the
crew and dredge is $50 day. Then
the bottom is lined with clean, broken
stone or oyster shells. If shells are
used the average is 800 bushels to the
acre They are purchased at Balti-
more, and are bought by schooner
loads ut a cost of from Six to ten cents
busheL 1t is of the utmost import
ance that this carpet of shells be laid
Sin the nick of time" The usual
spawning time for oysters is from July
90 to August 90. They may be early
or late, according to the degree of
summer heat. When spawning they
cxpel 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 In spreading the shells or stones.
An hours delay may cause the loss of
thousands OF dollars, and such losses
have been experienced in q number of
cases this year, as the unexpected hot
weather in 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 bcrins
to take form and then looks like tiny
bug. The shell begins to grow, and,
II guarded from their natural enemies,
IN two years the young oysters cover
the bottom several inches thick. They
are then transplanted to another bed
In n 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 wny he har-
vests crop each year.
An idea of the profit in this method
may be obtained from the experience
of farmer who has already amassed q
large fortune in the business. Three
years ago he planted $1,000 bushels on
fifty acre bed. This year he has
transferred 70, ZOO bushels to n matur-
ing bed, which will be double their
present size when mature, making
| lao, 900 bushels. He left at least 25,-
600 bushels on the old bed, which will
also double, making nearly or quite
200, 600 bushels to harvest next yenr,
mt an average price of S1.10 per
bushel. If there is fifty acre farm
above water that ever yielded $500, 600
in four yenrs it is not ON record
But it is not all clear sailing and
eiuipiy HhitiuS uiteT LIE spawn CntCheS
until the oyster is mature. The oyster
and .he oyster farmer have four great
enemies storms sufficiently violent to
shift the bottom, star fish, drills
and thieves Against the first, of
course, both arc helpless, bnt against
the other three the "farmer" is con
stantly on guard. The storms Of 1892
did immense damage to Long Island
Sound oyster beds.
The greatest pest-the potato bug
Of oyster farming-is the star fish, or
sea star, rs the oystermen coll them.
The sea star clasps it's five arms about
tue oyster, forces the shell open and
drinks the liquor, which is the oyster
, sustenance, then let's it fall back to
die. The war against the sea star is
constantly wagcd and is costly. Hun
dreds of bushels of sea star are cap.
tured by drcdgcs, and they are used
as fertilizers.
The "drill' is another great pest
1t is no larger than ones little finger.
but 1t bores straight through the shell
and kills the oyster And thep thor,