of new pares and claires still goes on at the French seaboard, new concessions of ground for that purpose being frequently made, and a tour to most of the fishing places gives the idea of the future wealth to be obtained from this source, more especially when the natural and economic history of the oyster comes to be more thoroughly known.

We are indebted to W. C. Lodge, of Delaware, for facts concerning

OYSTERS OF THE CHESAPEAKT-THEIR PROPAGATION AND CULTURE.

Oysters are found in most of the saline waters of the world, where tides flow and ebb, except in the extremes of temperature, but they attain a condition of perfection, as regards size and quality, only in the waters of temperate and semi-tropical climates.

Natural beds of oysters exist in moderately deep water, generally from seven to thirty feet, according to the climate, the character of the bottom, and other conditions favorable or otherwise for breeding, and the growth and preservation of the young. They are located near the coast, at the mouths of rivers, or in the semi-fresh waters of the bays. Natural beds exist in isolated patches or clusters of indefinite extent and varied thickness. Those on the coast are found in indentations or sheltered localities, as the exposed portions of the ocean are subject to such agitations from violent winds, that the sand or mud of the bottoms is disturbed to such a degree as sometimes to cover the oysters. This is destructive to the young, and even old and perfectly grown oysters will eventually perish when covered by sand or mud. The more tranquil the water, other things being equal, the more prolific and flourishing the beds.

Oysters, as regards both growth and quality, are influenced by the condition of the water in which they exist. Those on the Atlantic coast, in the unmitigated salt of the ocean waters, are small and too salt for use, while in the neighboring bays and at the mouths of the rivers, where the out-going fresh water mingles with that of the sea, the oyster attains its greatest size and best flavor.

The Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries afford the most favorable conditions for the natural growth of the oyster, as well as all needful facilities for its artificial propagation and culture. Located in the proper temperature, its bottoms of sand and rock, its abundant produce of sea-moss as a home and breeding place, its waters tempered in degrees of saltness to suit all varieties, and its numerous fresh-water streams, bringing down in their floods a continuous supply of food and other requirements, render the bay superior, in its oyster grounds, to any body of water on this continent or perhaps in the world.

From Kent Island, within twenty-five miles of Baltimore, to Cape Henry, a distance of one hundred and forty miles, the bottom of the bay is, with slight exceptions, a continuous oyster bed. All the freshwater streams that empty into the bay within the above-named limits are stocked, either naturally or artificially, with oysters, as far up toward their sources as the influence of the salt water extends.

Area of the oyster beds.-The area of the oyster beds of the Chesapeake and its tributaries may be safely estimated at three thousand square miles. There is, however, great inequality in the quantity of bivalves scattered over the bottoms. In some places they are so few as to render fishing for them unremunerative, though such are exceptions rather than the general rule; while, in other portions of the bay, they increase so rapidly, that many perish from the weight by suffocation or for want of food.

The oyster business.-Some idea of the magnitude of the oyster business of the Chesapeake may be obtained from the reports of the oyster commission, created by the State of Virginia and of Maryland.

The bay is divided into two departments, and each has its proper police regulations. The Baltimore department, which includes less than one-half the oyster fisheries, reports an annual average of eleven million bushels, taken in the legitimate way of dredging and tonging. The reports of both departments aggregate from twenty million to twenty-five million bushels, which are only an approximation to the quantity actually taken. This report does not include the oysters taken from private beds or plantations, owned by the residents on the islands and the shores of the bay and rivers, who do not regularly engage in the trade, but cultivate them for their own uses; nor the numbers taken by the halfpiratical "pongys," canoes, (Fig. 3,) and other small craft that continually depredate upon the beds without the required license.

In the city of Baltimore seventy houses are engaged in the oyster business, mostly in canning for exportation, while at various points in the bay are establishments (Fig. 1) that employ from fifty to four hundred hands each, during the season, in opening and canning, (Fig. 2.)

By the official reports there are fifteen thousand persons engaged in the business of oyster fishing, (Fig. 4,) and a fleet of one thousand seven hundred vessels of fifty tons burden, and over three thousand smaller crafts, are duly licensed for the trade.

Besides the regular transactions that come under the cognizance of the commission, there are numbers of men and vessels employed in procuring "plants" from various places abroad for the artificial beds, and there is a population of 20,000 persons, on the islands and mainland, with whom oysters form an article of general consumption throughout the season.

Oyster fishing. The implements used in oyster fishing are few and simple in construction. They are the dredge, the tongs, and the fork (Fig. 5.) The dredge is used on the natural beds, in deep water. It is an iron net set in pear-shaped iron frames, and furnished with teeth so arranged as to tear the oysters from the beds, and gather them into the net as it is drawn over the bottom by the vessel, to which it is attached by means of a long rope. It weighs about one hundred and fifty pounds, and is drawn on board the vessel by a windlass arranged for the purpose. It is designed to hold about three bushels, though it is rarely filled with marketable oysters at one "haul." When one-fourth of the contents is good oysters, the "haul" is considered a good one. The remaining empty shells are cast back into the water. The tongs are composed of two iron rakes attached to long wooden poles, with an axle set near the rakes. The fisher leans over the side of his boat, and handles this tool with ease in water from two to eight feet deep (Fig. 4.) It is used chiefly on planted beds. The fork is composed of ten or twelve tines, or prongs, set near one another, and fixed to a long, stout handle. It is used for fishing in shallow water, on beds where oysters are entangled in sea-moss, and the fisher generally wades in the water in order to manage it easily.

The plants and planting grounds.-The plants are gathered in the months of August, September, and October, chiefly along the Atlantic coast, particularly on the coast of the Carolinas, where exist prolific beds of oysters too salt for general use. In their native beds these oysters do not attain any considerable size, but transported into the semi-fresh waters of the Chesapeake, they grow rapidly, fatten, and become more fresh and consequently edible. The plants measure from

one inch to three inches in length, and, when planted in the best feeding grounds, grow in a year to four or five inches, when they are regarded as marketable.

The best planting grounds, all things considered, are found in Tangiers Sound, a portion of the bay opposite the county of Dorchester, and of Somerset, in Maryland, and marked off from the bay proper by a chain of islands dropped from the Dorchester Hook to Crisfield, the present terminus of the Delaware railroad. Here the water is comparatively. shallow, and the sound is so completely shielded by islands on one side, and the mainland on the other, as to be at all times tranquil. The business of planting, therefore, may be carried on without interruption, and the plants are not liable to be covered by sand.

Good planting grounds are valuable, and are seldom sold; but sometimes they are leased at rates ranging from $50 to $400 annually per acre. Sales of lots covered by three to seven feet of water have been made at upward of $1,000 per acre; and the most desirable grounds are valued at rates above these figures, and pay an interest of more than twenty per cent. on that valuation.

There are other excellent planting grounds superior even, in some respects, to those of Tangiers, but they are open to the objection of loss from shifting sands, so destructive to the plants. On the Tangiers bottoms exists a rank vegetable growth called sea-moss, in which the oysters become securely imbedded, and which protects the spawn and the young oysters until their shells become sufficiently hard to afford protection from the numerous anquatic foes that prey upon them.

The boundaries of the planting lots are determined from stakes or small evergreen trees, firmly secured in the mud at the corners. These fragile corner-marks are strictly respected by the neighbors, and a case of trespass rarely occurs.

The plants are allowed to remain from three to six months, never exceeding a year. The torging season commences in September and continues through the following April, it being a rule with the fishers to close operations before May; as, according to their belief, oysters are unfit for use in any month that is not spelled with the letter R. The breeding season occupies the four months from May to August inclusive, and the oysters are then necessarily not in good condition for use. Consequently those engaged in the business during the other part of the year employ their boats in freighting fruits and vegetables, or turn their attention to trucking, particularly to the cultivation of sweet potatoes and melons, for which the islands and high mainlands are peculiarly adapted.

Quality. There is a great difference in the quality of oysters of the same size and age. Locality has its influence to such a degree that most natural beds and all planting grounds produce oysters of different flavors. An experienced oyster fisher can, at sight, generally tell the locality from which the oyster was taken; and the epicure, accustomed to the different flavors, can by taste designate the bed on which the oyster was grown and fatted.

The oysters of Tangiers are excelled in delicious flavor by those at the mouth of the Cherrystone River, on the coast, and by those in Lynnhaven Bay on the west side, at the mouth of the James and the Nansemond Rivers. The Cherrystones deservedly hold the first rank, but are practically little known beyond their own neighborhood, as the natural beds are of small extent and their production limited. There are, however, fine feeding grounds in the vicinity of Cherrystone, and all oysters planted there become of superior quality, and are sold abroad as Cherrystones.