The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-11-26
ARTIFICIAL SPONGE CULTURE,
A Promising Project for the Coast of
Florida

Florida.
Several causes have recently com
bined to reduce the supply of sponges
in the American market. The paralysis
of all industry in Cuba in conseque nee
of the civil war now prevailing there
is one of them. The West Indies, Ba-
hamas and Florida are the principal
centers of production in this part OF the
world. Reckless fishing, which threat
ems 20 eXterminate the sponges, much
as similar proceedings do the seals off
the coast of Alaska, is another factor in
the situation. These facts lend
peculiar interest to the propo-
sition recently made to :he
United States government, through
its consular agent at Mitylene, by
Greek named Charalampos Chorphios,
to establish the business of artifcially
cultivating sponges somewhere on the
Florida coast, if he can get a corcts-
sion. A great deal has been done in the
past, under the auspices of the national
and state fishery commissions, toward
restocking American lakes and rivers
with trout, bass, shad and salmon, with
small fry Matched and nurtured under
human management. Artificial means,
too, have much to do with the culture
of the oyster and the maintenance of
the supply of that bivalve. But the
reasonahleness of the project of Mr..
Chrophios does not rest alone on these
->pceeedents. Psychological experts in
Washington are said to have shown
confidence in it's practicability. They
say that by taking proper measures the
Florida esponge fisheries could be
brought to higher state of productive
ness in few years. The men already
engaged in the industry might not,
however, relish this interference in be-
half of the public.
The tough, soft, elastic, fibrous moss
which is to be had at the druggists, I'M
der the name of sponge, is really the
skeleton which once supported whole
colony Of jelly-like creatures which
have built up that structure. These
propagate, naturally, in two ways, by
means of spores or eggs, and by the
formation of buds which eventually
split off from the mature polyp. The
scientific sponge culturist proceeds on
a plan which utilities both of those
methods, but is like common practice
in horticulture. He simply cuts up tine
tenement house of a colony into num-
Der of pieces, employing a sharp knife
or razor for the purpose, and conduct
ing the operation while the pulpy mass
is still under water. He is also careful
to leave a portion of the original outer
surface on each fragment. Each bit
may then be loaded with small some
or other sinker to take it to the bottom
again. A few of these sections fail to
revive; but the great majority, after
an interval of two or three months, be
gin to thrive and eventually grow TO a
considerable size.
There are hundreds of distinct sEe-
cies of sponges, but scarcely dozen are
suited to mans use. 1t is asserted that
those which are obtained from MedI-
terranean waters are the finest in the
world; yet the delicate 'sheep's WOO"
and "velvet" sponges of Florida are
wonders of softness and beauty. And
if a system of artificial culture should
come into vogue these choice varieties
could be produced almost as abundant
ly as the coarser grades are now.-N.
Y. Tribune.