The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-11-30

pearls in any collar or ornament e.
closely that the owner ran wes-
the imitation and still attract al
miration for her beautiful pearl
while the real gems lie safe h
vault. The result of this chalIapg@
to the pearl business and the 5se
collar dowagers has not vet bass
announced.
Whether the much discussed ian
anese pearl will stay where -.
dealers want il, plainly cIasgiss5
rs a culture pearl, also remains r.
be seer. Kokiehi Mikimoto. ~
owner of the pearl farm, saws h.
has always sold his goods as enL.
tured pearls. In one of his r,t5
logues he described the process by
which he induces the oysters On he
farm to make pearls.
But he says that he cannot he
responsible if in later TRANSACTIONS
the origin of the pearl is lost As
the only sure way to prove that !
Mikimoto pearl is not a wild pearI
is to cut it in half To show tbs
nucleus, the identity Of a culture
pearl is apt to be lost be points
out
Pearl Farming.
The system under which Mr.
Mikimoto operates his pearl farm
seems so simple-thoueh he saws
it requires extreme care-that
would be much copied if he had NOT
protected himself by patents. HIS
process is patented not only in
Japan but in q number of others
countdies as well. He received his
patent from the United States pat
ent 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 local
itys Mr.. Mikimoto chose the place.
figuring that conditions should be
favorable to oyster culture.
Young oysters live in the beds
here for three years. They are
then taken out and an irritant, the
nucleus for a pearl, is introduced
into the oyster. The nucleus is
generally a round bit of motherof-
pearl inserted in the liver Of the
oyster.
The oysters are then parked in
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 layers
of mother-of pearl II deposited by
the oyster to make a 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
prepared bit Of nucleus into the
oyster Is G@5zL== @Gz anu Is IN
all farming, ERS<9 Es Pegts and
weeds to combat The octopus and
starfish are two marine animals
who enjoy eating oysters. Some
kinds of seaweed. too, spread so
rapidly as to choke hundreds OF
oysters, leaving the gGE-E bali
formed. perhaps worthless
ImpIanting the irritant into the
oyster itself, instead of allowing it
to become attached TO the shell,
made the round, cultured pearl
possible. For years, cultured
pearls were fiat on one side. The
nucleus was placed in the shell, and
the mOther-of-pearl substance that
the oyster formed over il to pro
tect itself fastened It TO the shell
This made a button pearl Hall
pearls of this ST. vEz Ilruu4ud
on a mother Of pearl base and
used in rings and other jeTelry
This sort of pearl eating 5ss
been done for centuries by the
Chinese with tiny images. Little
metal Buddhas are placed IN the
oyster shell to be covered over
with a peariy coating,
But MikimOto was not satisfied
until he had produced round, per
feet pearls in quantities on bis
farm. Since then, the industry has
steadily grown and to date not
even the prOnOuncament Of the
European gem dealers against tie
cultured pearl has caused Ar.
Mlkimoto TO discharged any Of bis
oyster farm hands.