The record-union., 1899-01-30

WeeQeQ ana WeeulHS mere IuedAS
the watch out for and removal of peri
wrinkles, mussels, and 'borers." NO
dry-land farmer ever narrowed a field
more carefully than do these oyster
men rake and clean theirs at low tide.
over all the glorious wind blows, the
sunlight. CLEANS on the waters of the
bay and on the scores of pools scat
tered about the oyster beds. Civiliza-
ton, represented by two small white
houses ON the distant shore, seems very
far away.
An oyster bed itself, the nursery OF
the young oyster, is interesting at close
range. Half of mud, half of sand, it is
a color study of brown, green and gray.
The gray shades off into white, some OF
the oyster shells half visible through
their loan and with drops of water
clinging to them seeming almost daz-
zling The green is the fresh vegeta-
! ton of the bays bottom, the brown yet
another species of grass 1t is in these
clumps of grass, green or brown, that
most of the oysters lie. Vegetation
seems to spring up about them.
Their rakes in their hands, standing
now on ground free from water, though
oozing here and there, the cystermen
spread out, and with deft manipulation,
| in picturesque poses, began the task
OF raking up such oysters into heaps
as they were searching for, ready to
be loaded into the baskets. No hit or
miss gathering, but selection at once
of the oysters to be taken away For
the modern FISHERMAN may be SAID TO
know every oyster in his farm" OF
even those portions always under water
he is complete master The acres that
are covered by waves have no secrets
from him, and unerringly he can gulde
his skiff to any point and tong up
crop that. has lain there for months
or perhaps a year.
He must see to 1.-THE FISHERMAN OF
modern times-that his supplies are
kept we'll ahead. The fashionable oyster
needs year to grow from the seed
oyster to its proper size. Yet other oys-
tiers must remain On the beds two years.
All this time they must be carefully
protected. The beds are replenished in
April. May and June-that is, the little
seed oysters are planted then. They
lie in shallow water through the sum-
mer and the early fall. With the APP
proach of winter. lest they freeze, all
must be transplanted-put into deeper
| water.
A simple operation this seems. But
it must be remembered that the oyster
man who has a farm" worthy OF men
ton has on his beds scores of colonies,
each of which needs especial attention
Then, too, he who grows the fashion
able oyster has special orders come TO
him each day for this and for that.
He must know his stock and each inch
of his grounds.
A skiff rocks idly on the waters. One
man is steadying it; another, with a
pair of iron tongs skillfHlly worked, is
bringing oysters forth from their lairs.
He swings his tongs down. and an in
slant later raises them. Oysters and
weeds in a medley respond to the haul.
The prize is dumped into the boats bot
tom. A load and the skiff is pulled
away, some rods further on, to spot
where the oysters are tumbled over
board.
Back and forth to the sIoop does the
skiff go with its basketfuls to meet that
days orders. Three bushel baskets
make a barrel. 1t may be that twenty
barrels are to be shipped the next
morning Sixty to seventy basketfuls
are at all events no extraordinary load
for sloop like this. One hundred and
over even HAY Dt put dDOdfu
Before these are put aboard the sloop,
however they are washed. The home
load of the careful oysterman is clean
With his rakes he gathers for his needs
and gets each basketful aboard the
skiff in the channel. One would now
think he was to transplant, for the
skiff moves to deeper water and over
board every oyster goes. 1t is for but
he
almost as tall as a man, are again
called into play The men WELD two
pairs. Up come the oysters, now fresh
and clean The weeds and mud that
formerly chung to the shells, and made
the load an unsightly mass, are now
removed, and the oysters fairly glisten
as the skiff is poled toward the sloop.
In such manner is the oyster de luxe
taken from his bed How he comes
there is yet another tale. 1t is one of
the curious facts of oystering that oys-
ter breeding and oyster planting are
two distinct trades. The FISHERMAN
proper buys his oyster half grown, as
1t We're For the ,oystermen of this re-
gion the headquarters for these seed
oysters (the oysters that are planted)
is the Connecticut shore in the vicinity
of New Haven. Here one hears talk
of oysters by the hundred thousand,
not at all a remarkable thing when it
is considered that a single oyster Will
lay million eggs in the spawning sea-
son. OF course but a small proportion
of these eggs ever become even small
sized oysters, but these figures at least
hint at numbers that are vast.
The oyster breeders about New Ha-
ven simply plant oyster shells at ia
vorable place and wait one or two
years. The spawn in these oyster
waters clings to these shells-that is.
! fraction of it does. That which gains
a good foothold grows into oysters.
This industry is vaster than most peo-
pie. would believe, one planter putting
| into the water half a million bushels
of shells one season.
| Oyster breeders sell these little oys-
tiers when they have reached the age of
two years. The planters pay IS cents
bushel for them, there being 5000 to
4 1000 in a bushel presumably; actually
much less than that This is equivalent
to 1928 a barrel. Five dollars a bar
rel-a barrel containing 300 to $500
! oysters of the fashionable variety-is
the average price the planters get, not
such large margin of profit, when is
considered the care that must be be-
slowed upon these seed oysters for at
| lost irretrievably.
Sunset sees the sloop at the dock.
and new page in the history of the
] oyster of the CONNIE il faut dinner ta-
BILE commences at the float" Prop