The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-10-03

OF eggs that her kind shall not disap-
pear from the waters.
The men who first undertook oyster
culture In America did not know these
things nor many other interesting
facts of the oysters life; but they
mad observed that almost any hard
surfaced objects falling into the
water, il they did not become engulf
ed IN the mud, became coated with a
growth of oysters. and they reasoned
that such materials purposely placed
OH barren bottoms would establish ar
tihcial oyster beds and that to the
man who made the deposit belonged
the oysters.
Thus begalt. through the initiative
Of the oystermene themselves, the
practice Of oyster culture in the
United States, which has developed
until at the present time about one
half OF the oysters produced in the
country. and nearly atwosthirds of the
total value OF this product, are deriv-
ed from artificial beds, privately
owned or leased from the States.
Beginning in shoal waters along
shere, the oyster growers have ex-
tended their operations into the deep
open waters Of Long Island Sound
and Chesapeake Bay and to every
coastwlse State from Massachusetts
to Texas and from Washington to Cal
fornia, and the few small boats first
employed. propelled by sails or oars,
have given place to fleets OF motor
boats and steamers. In 1911 planters
spread 1T000.e00 BUSHELS OF young
/ oysters, shells, and gravel over their
100000 acres Of oyster farms; and
they harvested q crop Of over l5,0OO,-
1000 bushels Of oysters, worth to them
approximately $l0,e00.00O
Between the planting and the har-
/ vest, an interval from two to FIVE
years, the oyster culturst assumes
many hazards. On the New England
coast, after all his material is down.
4 the tickle set, may not appear, pos.
sibly because at the critical time
s0ale weather disturbance may have
Killed the baby oysters while they
were vel swimming near the surface,
In the Gulf OF Mexico the set may
4 be SO heavy that there is scant room
for the oysters to grow, and many die
\ while those that are left are halt
starved and misshapen from crowd
ing. Even when tire little oysters or
"spat' have attached themselves in
favorable numbers, their peris have
just begun. They are never safe
from other enemies until they fall in
to the hands OF their arch foe, man
Schools of drumhsh may grind them
into fragments between teeth arrang
ed like cobhlestone pavement, and
so the ayster growers crop may melt
away, ATHEIST in night Starish Of
ten appear in great hosts and by the
muscular force OF their arms fur
nished with rows of suckers, rend
open the shells and turning their own
stomachs inside out absorb the oyster
while il still lies wii.sin the armor
designed to protect It. The drill, d
4 little marine snail, uses its rough
-ftongue like rasp and, boring a
1 smooth round hole through the help
/ less oysters shell, inserts it's snout
and ticks up the delicious meat With
| in.
Freshets from the land and storms
rolling III from the sea take their toll
tile one by rendering the water too
fresh or too muddy and the other hy
The, force Of the waves tearing up both
oysters and the bottom. Even with
their own species these mollusks have
to contend and a.number npcountable
die in the warfare They struggle
with their kind as man struggles with
man, for room to grow and enough to
eat; and though The struggle is pas
siye it is relentless. and the loser. un-
able to run away, is starved or stifled
through lack OF room IN which to open
its shell for food and oxygen.
The oyster feeds on small particles
suspended in the water, conspicuous
among which by reason of their beau.
ty under the microscope are minute
plants, called diatoms. covered with
ornateiy sculptured transparent
s:lells of quartz. These and the other
food particles are carried by the cur.
rents, dropping to the bottom in a
gentle driz2le and eventually accumu-
lating in considerable deposits. Each
loyster has part Of its surfaces cover
ed by innumerable microscopic vi
brating ieshy bristles. each feeble in
itself, but, bearing in unison. produc-
ing currents strong enough to carry
the food particles into the gaping
shell where the water passes through
the gills whic, are beautifully con-
structed delicate sieyes, and thence
again to the outside. while the food
strained from it passes in constant
stream into the mouth. So industri-
GUS is the oyster and so scattered is
its food that to get it's daily meal it
filters between 25 and So quarts OF
water, making useful to man wealth
Of microscopic material which other
wise, would be lost The waste OF the
soils. washed by rains and carried in
tothe sea, comes back, indirectly,
through the marine plants that are
nourished by the fertilizing salts and
fed on by the oyster.
II food be abundant and the beds
not too crowded, the oyster becomes
fat, luc.ous, and tender. In this con-
ditiOn ii Is one of the most inviting Of