St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-11-05
OUR OYSTER SUPPLY.
What Scienc. Is Doing to Keep It
from Petering Out
Experts at WashinEton Are Coa-
stantly MT Work to Stimulate the
Artificial Development OF
the BtvaIves.
Especial Washington Letter.l


Are you good at figures? Can you
calculate sums in hundreds, thou
sands, millions and billions?
Unless you can DO SO you will not
be able to understand how oysters are
supplied by nature. and how they are
multiplied by science.
At the fish commission this after
noon one Of the employees gave
some very interesting information
about the luscious bivalves. He was
attending to his regular routine du-
ties, and in response to many questions,
he said:
Zone large oyster will yield one
hundred millions of eggs. A bushel OF
good oysters would yield about bill
lion Of eggs. The hundred billions of
fry from my hundred bushels Of oy-
sters. | propose to have pass back and
forth through my canal. and besides
have few spawners in each one of the
receptacles. l will make use of meth
DDS Of fertilization which are essen
TALLY my own. l depend, however, more
largely upon the natural brood, using
artificial fertiliza tion as an auxiliary,
getting spat from fry produced nat
ural!y."
what advantage does this proposed
system possess over other systems?'
This system greatly increases the
chances, by taking advantage OF the
full spatting capacity of the volume
of water. Oyster embryos, under or
dinary conditions, in open water diff
fuse and affix themselves throughout
the three dimensions of such body OF
water. The methods which have been
used provided for collectors only at
the bottom or on the surface. This
system contemplates that the collect
ors shall occupy the three dimensions
Of the water, and provides cheap
and feasible method of spat culture, of
almost unlimited productiveness."
Referring to another scientist OF en-
inence, engaged in the same worthy
enterprise, he said:
a good many people will accuse me
Of pilfering from Brooks, but my meth
ods are radically different from
Brooks. Brooks methods OF using
floats provide only for the fry that
comes on the surface; mine not only
takes the fry on the surface, but that
which sinks to the bottom as well
My system simply spreads the spat-
ting surface through the whole depth
of the water.
among the advantages of the sys-
tenn" he went on, "are the convenience
and accessibility Of the arrangement.
The cultch can easily be overhauled il
necessary. Every three bushels OF
cultch is completely independent of
the rest. and can be removed and ex-
amired at any stage. A great advan-
tage is that the water rushing through
keeps off the sediment, which has been
found to be very destructive to the
spat. Under this system, too, person
will have control of his plant. The laws
Of Virginia and Maryland will not
give to one man unlimited control of
| the territory under water. The law
makers of these states must be edu-
cuated up TO a better understanding
OF the questions affecting oyster cnl-
ture Fur this reason this method is
especially applicable to the Chesa-
peake region. with its low, marshy
shores, offering natural advantages
for the construction OF such ponds.
A plant covering tenth Of an acre will
yield 1000 bushels Of spat. or adult oy-