Evening star., 1920-11-28

Of natural causes, such as the cutting
on OF the inlet to bay or sound
and the reduction OF the salinity of
| the water; the covering OF the beds
with silt, debris, and fresh water dur
ing freshet; the shifting Of sand
or mud by storms, or the inroads Of
living enemies.
1.-The greatest enemy to the oyster.
however. Is man. Most Of the depleted
condition Of the natural oyster beds
is the result Of careless overfishing by
oystermen. The beds are stripped
down 30 completely that not enough
adult oysters are left to furnish suf-
fcient spawn to insure a subsequent
crop. Although millions Of eggs are
/ produced, those products are thrown
into the water, where many Of the
eggs fail Of fertilization: many eggs
snsn,sn and larvae s.a die or ar. are eaten by
time on soft bottoms and are
smothered. The percentage that fin
ally reaches the adult stage is rela-
lively small. For that reason too
complete removal Of the adult oysters
from bed destroys hope for an en-
| suing generation.
During the past forty years certain
methods OF oyster culture have been
developed. especially in certain re-
gions, whereby new beds have been
built up and a constructive system
| OF increasing the oyster supply has
been initiated in addition to the mega
tive one OF restrictions on fishing,
| such as closed seasons and the line.
Biologists have become concerned in
this work. and efforts have been made
to promote, by experimentation,
methods for the improvement OF
oyster culture
II some brilliant scientist could de.
wise a plan whereby oysters could
be artificialiy Matched he would 20
down in history as the man who revo-
lutionized the, oyster business Of the
In 1879 Prof. Brooks of Johns Hop.
kins University. while experimenting
covered that spawn could be taken
from the female oyster. fertiiized in
the same manner as are eggs in fish
hatcheries. and that the young
oysters could be kept alive for about
six days. Neither DR.. Brooks nor
other scientists during the past forty
years have been able to evolve a
means of successfully feeding young
oysters.
The main cause Of this failure n
said to be due to the microscopic size
OF very young oysters. 1t would take
400 OF them to reach a distance of one
| inch. In changing the water to pro-
be separated from the water about
to be discarded.
According to DR.. Smith. this diff
| Guilty is reported to have been sur
mounted by the New York state cun-
Servatton commission, through the
| simple expediency OF a dairyman's
cream separator, which made It pos
sible to safely separate the micro
scopic oysters from the water from
which the food had been consumed
and putting them into other water
containing a fresh supply of food.
The far-reaching siEnificance Of this
| discovery and its future possibilities es
| can be grasped when it Is realized
that the great difficulty among com
mercial oystermen is to get tiny
| oysters to set up their housekeepin9
on the nice comfortable shell beds
that have been painstaking1y and at
great expense prepared for their re-
ception. instead Of floating out to sea
| in very early babyhood and forever
lost to mankind.
1t now looks as though the oyster.
, men Of Chesapeake bay and all other
oyster producing sections Of the coun.
try would soon be able to plant arti-
acially hatched oysters just exactly
where and when they desired to DO so,
| And when 1t is borne In mand that
a single oyster lays from 10000. 600
to 100.000,000 eggs in the course OF
each season It will be readily seen
that through this new arranEement
1t may be possible to soon make
oysters 50 plentifcl as to become an
gradually forcing it into the class Of Of
| expensive Injuries only within reach
OF the folk with fat wallets