The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-18
OYSTER SET IS "DISCOURACINC,
 AVER GROWERS
They And She'll Fish Com mission Make Public In
 spection of State Beds.

AxO0xOA 1xcbAO Z UO11C 1u-
 spection of State Beds.
 After examination of the oyster grounds on rnes Connecticut shore yes t~7fiay afternoon, members of the Oys- Asr Growers association, and the State Shell Fish commission found the pros- poets for the season poor. The set was very light,
 .' Nothing was found in the grounds off So West Ledge Light, New Haven, owned by H. c. Rowe and company. A Sealshipt Oyster company bed on Charles Island, Milford, showed the same result. A bed of the Connecti. cut Oyster Farms company off Strat- ford Light, generally conceded a cri- terion, produced small set, but 8 very poor one. A similar set was found off Bridgeport on one of the Andrew Radel Oyster company beds.
 Because of the conflicting stories regarding the set this season, a com mittee of oyster growers consisting of H. c. Rowe, w. H. Rave, H. c. Els worth and A. L. Smith invited the State Shen-Fish Commission and a party of nwspapermen to see for themselves what the set is q
 The Radel boat Standard left the Bell dock. New Haven, about noon, for a tour of what the oystermen and the Shell-Fish Commission consider the most productive of ConnectAcut beds.
 The crew, dredged on the So West Light Ledge grounds. Shell planted last June was brought up. It, was what oystermen would call "dirty''- fouled. 'Jingles,* oysters dead in the embryo, were on the shells. Here and there. by assiduous digging in the mess. the crew found a growing oys- ter. Opened, the shell disclosed sickly green bivalve, whose presence at a dinner, no lover of oysters would tolerate.
 The oyster was literally dyed. Some persons say the coloring is harmless, but the public won't buy gayly- decorated oyster, for it suspects-ahd it is believed rightly sovthat the oyster is acid-poisoned.
 Those growing oysters that were not dyed green. were nothing but ,sacs of water. Examination of the planted shell by the shell-Fish Com mission showed that two, three, four or five young oysters might be found. The deadly "dril1." however,, had got in a good seasons work and persons with good eyeAght detected the tiny holes the oyster enemy had made in sapping the life of the fish. But .'jipgles'' predominated, and the oystermen, backed in their opinion by the commission threw the she'll back into the water with the declaration ; that 1t is worthless, and that the ini- tialS cost of planting the shell. no small matter. win be more than equalled by the added cost of clean 1u&. the. bed of the mess
 , It cost more than seven cents al bushel to plant that shelL For 50, 900 bushels that would be $3,500. That money is lost As much again and more will be spent cleaning up the bed and getting ready for another season-perha ps another failure.
 That's where 1t irks, according to the oystermen. This is the second season of such meagre success, and where ordinarily the oysterman canN console himself in a poor seasdn by thinking of last seasons crop matur- ing, he has a very poor vista in back of him, barren present and a doubt full future.
 Present on tour of inspection were A. L. Smith and F. s. Beardsley of the Radel company, Norwalk; Henry c. Ellsworth and Capt. Carl Ander- son of the J. & J. W. Ellsworth com pany, New York; W. H. Rave, presi- dent of the Sealshipt Corporation; c. Clifford Foote and H. c. Rowe of H. c. Rowe and company, New Haven; Frank E. Smith of Stony Creek, C. E. Wheeler, manager of the Con- necticut Oyster Farms, and Alex Frazier of New York and Con- necticuS all practical oystermen, be- sides4he oyster commission, Horace E. Kelsey of Westbrook, Capt. E. Frank Lockwood of Greenwich and Capt. Frank W. Rowley of New Haven.
 These oystermen have planted in Connecticut waters between two and three million bushels of shell, at a cost of seven or eights cents bushel, so that not less than $200,00O is in vested in the planting. How much os this money these gentlemen twill save by marketing what has been produc- ed is problematical, but they concur | in saying it will be very little indeed
 Another source of worry for the | ,oystcrmen was disclosed yesterday | when the shells were found to be l covered with a coral growth, which 1 is 2 novelty in Connecticut waters. It | Is death to oysters. but experienced | planters are hoping that some re- source of nature w<l result in the | elimination of this pest.
 From the So West Ledge Light | bed the party was taken to Charles | Island, where practically the same | conditions were encountered.
 If we ton't find a satisfactory set | off Stratfoff Light one of the oyster -men preseAt said, q wouldn't give | 10 cents bushel for the whole Con- necticut set''
 The Stratford Light set was test ed and it was found to be worth dredging. F. s. Beardsley, the own CT. said he'd sell it for 10 cents a bushSl. It costs from $SO to $1O0 a day to operate a big oyster boat, and a good many bushels of oysters have to be hauled in to cover this expense. What the owner thought of his pros- poets may be judged from the fact that a normal set sells for about 30 cents a bushe1.
 The Radel bed off Bridgeport test z1 IA oS he l