The Meeker herald., 1904-02-27
Raising Oysters
by Incubation.

New Jerseys Threatened oyster fam
Inc because of the inability to obtain
seed Is believed TO nave been ayerted
through experiments conducted during
the summer In the interest of the state
bureau Of shell fisheries, This body Is
now ready to announce that oysters can
be nrtIhcaliy propagated, much after
the manner in which the United States
government propagatcs shad and other
food fish
The experiments have been conducted
by Prof. Julius Nelson on the shore OF
Tuckerton bay. In n little shan,y which
no one would take 10 he a part OF me
CONFERENCE.-The paraphcrnalla for The
benehLinS of Its people and the public
at large. The building is little one-
story. one roo-i rumnlednwn affair, used
by Prof Nelson as kitchen. dining room,
dormitory and reception parlor although
he has little need of the latter. for he
seldom receives. visitors 81 intent is he
his work. Not far away II the pro-
fessors laboratory. even more ailani.
dated in , shnn ihs o exrsr,"m
der the low roof sits the professor daily
at his task. solving the mystery of life
SO far as the shelliish tribe Is CON
Prof Nelson is the biologist NJ tho
State Agriculture experiment station, but
independently along the line OF oyster
propagation. and his latest lnbors have
looks as If the oyster seed Is entirely
under his control. All thai Is necessary
Is the proper, facilities Tor 'nrryinE an
will be Obtained through the shell fish
eommssioners who IRE greatly H, inter- Of
Prof. Nelson's discoveries Is hest np.-
nrecntcd by those who know the most
| difficulty which has been "xp"Iierrc,l
for some time in the procuring Of seed
ns T'" tor" IN IN h hs S %snh wora. T Pointing
to common chicken incubator which
occupies a consple,ous place IN me
You see the nights are frequently
| quite cold here. and had To adopt som"
means of maintaining an even, tempera,
| tire for the oyster seeds. 50 ! Installed
| the incubator, which works very wei a.
| makeshift. ...
and before next sunrise 1t may fall below
| 90 degrees. Now. In nature the oysters
+, are in water which is almost stationary
in temperature during the twenty-fohr
| hours, say from ~ TO 50 degrees. 80 |
reach the same conditions with the incn-
bator and thus keep The temperature Ak
| about 80 degrees all night long.
| Then. TO illustrate his statements more
clearly. the professor deftly opened oys-
| ters selecting those most milky III
| their make up, plunged the point OF ms
| knife into their sides ana smenred drop
| tween the male and female oyster Oys-
ter eggs somewhat resemble fuli crown
| oysters shells and all. only they are moi
| fiat They are SO small that they c-in
| scarcely be seen without the aid Of u
Taking n tnmblerful of sea water Prof.
| Nelson washed on the point Of his knife
after first jabbIng It into the male oys-
| water was thoroughly milky.
Now" said the professor we will
| walt ten minutes 1t takes that time for
the fertilization process to be comple,ed -
How many sperms enter one egg
| Perhaps "A couple Of hundred. more or
| scope study shows that II more than one
enter the egg the result will he !. mon
stresty that VIII l"i, to as sTtaoIor an.
glass i will draw on the spermatizei
tn "teg ana p Until ali Of ,ne Debris &
washed away. In about an hour at this
temperature. 80 degrees you cnn see
eggs pinching on n bud which, however.
still sticks fast and then u pair OF buds
| appear. Later each part pinches in two
raspberry or mulberry in makeup.
Then in about i've hours you win see
| begin to spin around. There In the water.
| with the aid OF a powerful glass. may be
seen thousands of oyster fry, swimming
about in platoons. ascending and descend
| Ing in the tumbler or other receptacle.
In about twenty-four hours the shells
| begin to develop and then the oyster
| must begin eating. as the substance from
| the egg is no longer sufficient to support
him. He cannot be fed In the lumbler.
| and kill the young oyster.
so the little oyster must be placed
dug out Of the bank Of the creek and
| covered with roof. the bottom being
covered with hard sand and so elevated
as to be exposed at every low tide. the
latter process renewing the water and
| at the same time leaving enough TO keep
the FRY alfS,e). The most difficult thing
| in connection with the claire was the
bailing of the gates to coniine the young
| oysters.
had meshes too large to retain these
young bivalves. rhe gates now in use
are made of absorbent cotton. quilted be-
tween sheets OF wire netting. but is. IN
fortunately, 40 very tight that 1t is I'm
possible for the water to pass pass through
| on different principle.
1.-The difficulty has been to raise oyster
fry in abundance that would live until
| they got shells. but now ] believe this
has been accomplished. Not that / mean
to say there Is nothing yet 10 do; There
but / am free to proceed with what the
oystermen think Is the main and pri-
mary thing They want me to supply
planting grounds In other words. they
want seed by the bucketful instead of by
One bucketfuI should contain embryo
enough. II all alive. TO supply ~ the
ment it was going to set and distribute
| II evenly on the thOusanos OIL Dusnels OIL
| shells.
1.-The meat of the cocoanut. so to speak.
lies at present In the certain details of
| experience and manipulation, which can
| only be pushed forward with Increased
| facilities. II we had floating labora-
| tory of the boathouse type we could bring
| it into favorable situations with reference
| to all the oyster grounds of the state.
| Such laboratory would really fulhil
| the intent of the law. and after once
| established would not cost much. II any.
more than does our present insignificant
| plant.
1.-THE so-called natural beds have In the
| past furnished the only supply of seed.
| and these beds have now become depict
| ed, SO that the planters have to ARTIFICIAL
| ly encourage seed production by planting
objects such shells for the spat at
| tachment Unfortunately. this does not