Arizona republican., 1921-12-09

panese pearl will stay where the dealers want it, plainly classified as a culture pearl. also remains to be seen. MT. Kokichi Mikimoto, the owner of the pearl farm. says he has always sold his goods as cultured pearls. In one of his catalogues he described the process by which he in- duces the oysters on his farm to make pearls.
 But he says that he cannot be re- sponsible if in later transactions the origin of the pearl is lost. As the only sure way to prove that a Miki- moto pearl is not wild pearl is to cut 1t in half to show the nucleus, the identity of a culture pearl is apt to be lost, he points out.
 Pearl Farming
 The system under which NIT. AIiki- moto operates his pearl farm seems so simple-though he says it re- quires extreme care-that it would be much copied if he had not pro- tected himself by patents. His proc ess is patented not only in Japan but in a number of other countries as we'll He received his patent from the United States patent office in 1911. when he had just begun to get successful results with round pearls.
 His unique pearl farm consists of a great stretch of leased water and an island in the Bay of Ago. A good deal of fishing for wild pearls has always been done in this locality. Mir. Mikimoto chose the place, figur- ing that conditions should be favor able to oyster culture.
 Young oysters live in the beds fnr .r-- taken out and an irritant, the nu- cleus for pearl. is introduced into the oyster. The nucleus is generally 6 round bit of mother of pearl in- serted in the liver of the oyster.
 The oysters are then parked fin fields on the sea bottom, each shell being placed a foot or more away from the next. For four to six years this set of oysters is left there. In that time enough layer5 of mother-of- pearl are deposited by the oyster 10 make fairly large pearl. Then women divers bring up the oysters | and the pearls are removed.
 This farming is not so easy as it sounds. Inserting the specially pre- pared bit of nucleus into the oyster is delicate work. And as in all farm ing, there are pests and weeds to combat. The octopus and starfish are two marine animals who enjoy eating oysters. Some kinds of sea . weed, too. spread so rapidly as to choke hundreds of oysters, leaving the pearls half formed, perhaps worthless.
 Implanting the irritant into the oyster itself, instead of allowing il to become attached to the shell. made the round. cultured pearl possible For years, cultured pearls were flat on one side. The nucleus was placed in the shell, and the mother of pearl substance that the oyster formed over it to protect itself fastened 1t to the shell. This made a button pearl. Half pearls of this sort were mounted. on a mother of- pearl base and used in rings and other jewelry
 This sort o1 pearl coating has been | done for centuries by the Chinese with tiny images. Little metal Bud- l dhas are placed in the oyster shell | to be covered over with a pearly | coating.
 But Mikimoto was not satisfied until he had produced round, per- ! feet pearls in quantities on his farm. | Since then the industry has steadily | grown and to date not even the pro- nouncement of the European gem | dealers against the cultured pearl has caused Mir. Mikimoto to discharge ! any of his oyster farm hands.