The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-31

- -" N-it ne SHfeh ny Fropn9ltinG
the Animal y-sourccs Of
the Commercial suppIy-Catehine
and Curing of SPongeS-Some Won
derfui SPonges of the Deep sea.
From the Hartford Times.
The department OF state has just re-
ceived. through the consular agent al Ny
tilene. a communication from Charalam-
pos Chorphios. who calls himself a '.mer-
chant and fisherman Of sponscs." This
Greek gentleman desires TO obtain a con-
cession which shall enable him to propa-
gate sponges in the waters OF Florida. he
understands the artificial culture of these
animals. and ne proposes 10 bring with
him skilled men and special machinery In
cidentally he is willing to instruct Amcri-
can citizens in the art of propagauug
sponges. which DE believes will tend 20 the
Development of the public richness" IL is
his opinion that the waters OF Florida can
he made to supply the world with sponges.
He offers to pay into the treasury 10 per
cent. of the proceeds of his industry dur
ing twenty years, at the end of which time
he will turn over TO the government an his
machinery, boats, etc
For many years past it has been realized
that something ought to be done in the
way of sponge culture in Florida waters.
The natural supply of these animals is di-
minishing at an alarming rate. owing to
everlasting. In fact. they are well-nigh
threatened with determination. Being sta
tionary and incapable of flight. they are
min H.a. a
evil is not beyond repair. inasmuch as
sponges can be propagated almost as eas-
lily as oysters; but a seemingly insur-
mountable obstacle is presented by the
professional fishermen, who win not toll
crate grants of marine areas for the pur-
poses of such culture They say that
grants of the kind would soon place the
fishery in the hands of monopolists
These toilers Of tie sea are determined
to defend their means of livelihood to the
uttermost. They are the sort of men who
shoot on occasion. and the least they would
do would to destroy the boats and other
apparatus Of any scientific sponge farmer
who attempted to invade what they con-
slider their territory. Furthermore, they
profess the conviction that the artificial
propagation of sponges is wholly imprac-
ticable. In this idea they are wrong, IL
any faith is to be put IN the experts Of
the United States fish commission, who
claim to have proved their theories by
careful experiments. They assert that II
proper measures were taken, the sponge
fishery of Florida could be restored to
the high producuveness within few
years. Unquestionably considerable APP
preparation of money wound be required,
but it would be trifiing compared with the
cash value of the augmented crops.
The sponge reproduces its species by
means of spores, corresponding to eggs,
hich are set free in the water After be-
ing 'hatched." the young ones swim about
for a while. eventually attaching them
selves to a rock or other object The ma
ture sponge also produces little buds,
which detach themselves from the parent
and float away to begin life on their own
account. The scientific culturist, how
ever, makes use of neither OF these nat
ural processes. The method he adopts Is
extremely simple, though requiring care
and skill Travelling over the fishing
grounds in a boat, he pulls the sponges to
the surface with "a hook on the end of a
long pole. The freshyly tackled sponge is
not taken out Of the water, but is held
beneath the surface, while the operator
cuts ii into pieces.
The knife used is as sharp as a razor,
so that as little injury as possible shall
be done to the tissues of the sponge.
The animal is cut up in such manner
that each piece shall retain part of
the original external surface. Finally,
each fragment is fastened to bit or
stone by wire, and is then dropped TO
the bottom. In shoal water an easier and
preferable method is to thrust a small
splinter of wood through each fragment
and stick 1t into the bottom. In this way
a number of sponges are made out of a
single sponge. Some of the frag
mentary ones die, but the great ma
jority of them survive. For three or four
months they seem to be sickly, but at
the end of that time they recover and be-
gin to grow with surprising rapidly.
The planting must always be done where
the sponges will not be rolled about by
the waves.
There are thousands of species Of
sponges, but only half-a-dozen have any
commercial value There used to be much
dispute as TO whether these creatures
were animal or vegetable, but science
has declared that they belong TO the for
mer kingdom being very low down and
degraded relatives of the corals. The
fact is that a sponge, like the coral, Is a
colony of little animals which occupy a
sort of apartment house together. The
animals are called "polyps" and each of
them beng both male and female. every
Individual in the community is in a posi-
ton to rear a family on its own hook.
The sponge in nature is "A fieshy and
somewhat jelly-like body; ony the skel-
eton figures in commerce. The CONNER
cial sponges have horny skeletons, but
there are ever so many species which
have glass-like or limy frames.
The next time you use sponge, eX-
anime it, and you will find that the sur
face Is covered with holes Toward tho
top these holes are much larger. brief
inspection will show that the whole mass
is pervaded by a system Of channels.
When the animal is alive. water is kept
constantly flowing through these cham
nels by means Of minute hair-like APP
pendages which the little polyps agitate.
The water is thus drawn in through the
small holes and elected from the big holes
at the top. 1t brings with 1t animal
cules and other food that is required for
the support of the colony. The channels
above described are the streets and al
ley-ways of the polyp town. If you look
at a living sponge IN shallow water, you
will see that there is a continual bub-
bling above 1t, caused by the income and
outgo of the water through the canals.
One important difficulty in the way Of
artificial propagation in Florida Is the
fact that the grounds best fitted for the
purpose are occupied by the most pro-