The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-07
LOBSTER FARMING
 4 FUTURE INDUSTRY
Is Possibilities Shown By Work
 of College Boys
ARE FOOD FOR EPICURES
How Little Lobsters Are Raised in Canvas Nursery-Twenty Thou sand Infants Are Care
 fully Fed.


 Providence, July 6.--To live amongst Holsters from June to October seems an cold part of college boys education. Everybody, nearly, has awakened to the fact that the higher training of today embraces something besides Latin, Greek and mathematics even if those studies are still a proper part of liberal edu- cation. The story of Louis Agasszs giv- ing q student who came to him to learn zoology a lot of clam shells with instruc- lions to take them away and study them is familiar to almost everyone. But Tor a group of husky young fellows to spend their whole summer in a sleepy fishing village necessarily feeding and observing schools of tiny Holsters, recording all most limltess statistical data in note books and drawing pictures Of the dlmlhu- tive beasts in their various stages ol de- velopment-why, that's enough certainly to excite the laughter of weather-hardened old fishermen who have supplied the United States with sea food these many years, dredging the oysters Of Narfasah- sett bay or following the sea rom Nan tucket to Barnegat
  ter except that the work of the col lege bovs already bids fair to make 1t easier for the fisherman to get his living from the sea. Young Holsters, 1t is said, have not for many years been seen Tn such numbers as since the students began planting them partly grown, along the shores. Soon the catch of sizaDle lelloWs will be increased, unless all signs lail' Consequently, respect for the university mi, az annlieI lem of preventing the extinction ot our valuable shell fish is on the increase. me work of the commissioners ot lniaha Fisheries of the state of Rhode lslanu, as conducted by teachers and students or Brown university, has given hope that our descendants may also have lobsters. For the first time anywhere the problem ot ar tidclally raising these crustaceans, treas- ,lred by the chef and patrons Of every American hotel and restaurant mas been successfully solved at the Wickford eNpe- 1lment station. Of one thousand httle Holsters matched under natural condl- lions from the egg clusters borne by the female parent, only one' II IS estlllateu' ever reaches maturity. The rest, for the most part during the first few days Of their lives are devoured by other lob- sters or by greedy fishes, or perlsh through other causes. In the hatchln6 bags of the experiment station, on the other hand, as many as lSO out o1 one thousand have been brought, at very small expense per thousand Holsters, up to a size at which they can be let loose with good chances, that many of them will attain the inches prescribed by law for the fishermen.
 Even more remarkable results than this, it is the opinion of experts, may yet be shown by individuals who are willing to .,L ta1 h, very slowly but which, if successful. would yield large returns. The lobster farm is q possibility of the near future 4 marine plantation among the wave washed rocks where the popular shell fish will be continually under the supervision of the owner from the summer days In which they are matched as feeble, floating wigelers until five or six years later they are big enough for "Newburg" or 'broiled alive" There are those who foresee long line of lobster holdigns on the At lantic coast from Labrador to the Dela- ware Breakwater New England can noe vie with the fertile west In raising corn and wheat, but neither can the west compete with the seaboard in producing lobsters
 Experts at all events, from abroad, where the danger of losing the lobster altogether is also imminent, have Vis- tied the Rhode Island experiment sta ton an been impressed with its work The United States hatchery at Booth bay Harbor in Maine. which has here tofore simply attended to hatching the eggs and letting loose the young lob sters in the first stage of their growth, is reported to be about to adopt the plan of rearing that has been found successful at Wickford. To set cloud of the larvae free in the ocean has been found to be mainly an excellent means of feeding other fish
 While, therefore, the young biologists of the university at Providence have been pursuing during the vacation months col lege studies that count as part or the1r regular work they have also been assist ing in very important industrial under taking. For the past six or seven years under the direction of Professor A. D. Mead of the department of biology at Brown, who has also for some years been fin the service of the Rhode Island com- mission of inland fisheries a number of students who have attained some pro- | ficiency in the natural sciences have each l year served with the assistant director in | charge of the work Ernest w. Barnes i With ordinary expenses paid by the state l fin exchange for their services, with the | opportunities of an outdoor summer in a quiet. picturesque village on Narragan- sett Bay, with a cottage camp on breezy point of land, a floating experiment sta ton on which the bathing suit is the most appropriate warm weather costume, and with the enjoyment of having a rec ognized part in an undertaking for the benefit of future generations 1t is no wonder that the privilege of taking such a course in marine biology is highly prized among Brown students. If they could be accommodated at the station, several times the half dozen young men who are chosen would elect so popular study.
 Not all the students spend their sum- mer in study of the problems of the lobster alone. The clam, the crab and some of the food fishes have also received