The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-08-13

b..ws.n each two stakes n email bun
die Of twigs floating In the water at
a short distance from the bottom.
when the fishing season arrives the
stakes and bundles II fagots are taken
up. Those oysters are used which are
suitable for market. and then the
stakes are replaced About htty years
ago some swedish fishermen IN the
East river. In New York began prac-
teal experiments In this line. and j
see no reason why Mr.. Cooper and Mr..
Watcrhouse should not make Ike
success IN front Of their homes at Pearl
Harbor. In 1858 the famous French
naturalist. Caste, began his investiga-
ton and experiment In France. He
stated that out OF twenty-three beds
which formerly constituted great
source of wealth, eighteen had been
completely destroyed when he began
the work of rcplenishiug the exhaust
ed beds ON the coast. In an area de-
pleted by dredging, where the beds had
been so completely destroyed that they
could not provide spat, six long beds
Of oysters We're planted and buoyed
out. The bottoms around these beds
were then thoroughly planted with the
shells of oysters and other mollusks.
Bundles of twigs. six to ten feet long,
were then fastened by stone anchors
a foot above the bottom. to serve as
spat collectors. Six months later these
bundles were found to be completely
covered with spat. and twenty thou
sand young We're counted upon one
bundle.
Two government farms were es-
tablished with "A force of one hundred
persons, and an area of LOCO acres was
stocked IN the same way. In 1868, dur
ing six tides 100000 of oysters were
taken. Land vas then coded by the
government to individuals, and one
area of 400 acres was in few years
! stocked with oysters valued at $4,000,
| 900. and all ibis resulted from the ex-
pertinent IF one man.
Mr.. Cnr,surrn tells us that tn.
oyster cu.lu." is equally prosperous In
| Portugal, ard that large quantities. are
shipped t. London, Berlin and Paris
Mr. MARK Robinson also says tina
h. well remembers hearing his fathe
tell Of the pearl fishery at Pearl Har
Dor. Their are hundreds Of tons o
empty oyster shells at Pearl lIirbo
today.
IN 1872 We visited the pearl lochs II
company with the late Abraham Fer
nandes and w. l.. Greene. Their opin
ion was that the oysters had been Kill
ed by some corvulsion of nature, blu
: that Is "A mistake. The natural bed |
the oyster rock The boundaries o
TINS rDFR are usually wei ueIiHtu an
few oysters are to be found beyond II
limits. At Pearl Harbor the oyster
were packed SO near together that the
could not lie Hat but grew vertically
side by side. the closaness being y
great that the growth OF one oyste
prevented adjacent ones from openin
! their shells. and thus crowded ther
, out and cxtcrminatcd them. on natu
r raj oyster rocks, nearly every one q
: the living oysters Is fastened to tn
open or free end of n dead shell an
, often a pile of five or six shells
thus united. The second, when young
fastening to the end of the first, thu
getting a little above the others. Tn
; first dies, the second continues to de
! velop and then third fastens itse
20 to its shell, and so on, until the chat
20 grows out of the water. and the r.
g ceding tide leaves the living one OF
T of the water to die. which means e>
- termination.
There is no reason why splendi
success should not be made of replan
- ing Pearl HarbOr to oysters