Show 0 7 7 N 1 wt tn t J M NO r P 7 K 12 4 J I 1 anatomy of the oyster prepared d by national c society D C 0 UH chesapeake bay oyster tg attig grounds rol fi ds are today resounding w with i the clank of thousands of oyster tongs tones and tons of oysters destined to satisfy mans craving for the luscious bivalves ore are snuffling shuffling into the holds of the bays oyster fleet oysters are the me most popular and most extensively eaten of all shellfish economically they are the most important of all cultivated water products fets and with the single exception odthe of the sea herrings the most valuable of all aquatic animals in at least thirty five countries oysters support a special fishery and in various other countries enter into the food supply on tile the shores of all the temperate and tropical oceans and seas sei oysters occur in greater or less abundance but the supply in the north atlantic exceeds that of all the other waters combined not less than one hundred and fifty thousand men and women are engage engaged dIn ln the oyster industry and the capital invested in vessels boats apparatus oyster lands and cultural establishments aggregates many million dollars the oyster crop of the world amounts to over twenty two million bushels of this output the share of 0 tle flie united states Is 70 per cent of 0 the remaining portion the greater part belongs to france oysters produce an immense number of young in order to compensate for the heavy mortality that occurs nt at all stages of growth but particularly in the early months it Is an astonishing tact fact that in some species of oyster each sex Is represented by a different individual as in the oyster of the atlantic coast of north america while in other species both sexes are united in one individual the male stage alternating terna ting with the female ns as in the common oyster of the atlantic coast of europe after the oyster attains a size that Is visible to the unaided eye it Is incapable of changing its position this Is in marked contrast with the newly born young which Is a free swimming creature floating about with tides and currents and quito quit as likely to settle down on a tar far distant bank or bar as to rejoin its progenitors how the young are arc saved of the millions of microscopic young liberated by a sagle aln gle full grown oyster only au an exceedingly small smal percentage become attached to a sul suitable tible bottom form a shell and enter on a career that will terminate on the table in two to four years when the temperature density tides and currents are favorable a ble the young will settle on ing bar or bed covering the shells of 0 the old oysters and any other hard r substances or objects that may be present all the young abat fall on a muddy or soft sandy bottom or on surfaces that are slimy are lost oyster culture therefore alms alma primarily to conserve the me nee free swimming young which it accomplishes by sowing clean oyster shells or other clutch to which the spat can attach or by collecting the young on tiles or brush raised above the bottom or suspended between surface and bottom oysters have been under culture longer than any other shellfish and indeed than any other water creature A simple type of cultivation with the formation of artificial beds nourished flourished in china at a very remote period and probably ant antedated edited by some centuries the inception of oyster culture in italy about tile the year 10 B 0 with the ad vance of civilization and ana the increase in population oysters were in greater demand and of necessity caroe came under cultivation in all the important maritime countries of europe where at the present time fully 00 per cent of the output cepres represents en ts oysters that have undergone some som s kind of culture in other parts of the old world the growing of oysters by artificial means has become an important industry while in tile the western hemisphere oyster farming has progressed to such a point th atthe annual crop now exceeds the total product of the rest of the world oysters are thus become the most extensively cultivated of all aquatic animals and the yearly product of the oyster farms Is many times more valuable than that of all 11 other aquiculture at al operations combined has hordes of enemies the cultivation of oysters Is made necessary by the of the natural beds it la made possible by private ownership or control of oyster prodoc ing bottoms and it Is greatti greatly facial bated by the peculiar susceptibility of oysters to increase and improvement by artificial means the human animal Is not the only one that looks with favor upon the tha edible qualities of the oyster at every stage in its career it Is attacked by a horde of dangerous enemies some of which ore are most destructive after the oyster has put on its stoutest stoute st armor and would seem to be almost invulnerable before it becomes attached the delicate oyster fry is extensively consumed by adult oysters and various var loc other shellfish as well as by fishes like the menhaden which are able to strain their food from the water when the tha oyster attains its shell a new set of shellfish enemies provided with drills begin their attacks and extract the soft parts through minute holes made la in valves the oyster growers of long island sound and adjacent waters suffer largo lar losses from the inroads of starfishes star fishes which come in from deep water and move in waves over the bottom devouring every e ery oyster 05 ster in their path and sometimes destroying several hundred thousand bushels of marketable oysters in one state in a single season other enemies of the grown oyster are fishes with powerful jaws jaw armed with crushing teeth on the atlantic coast the most destructive fish Is the black drum a school of which may literally an oyster bed in one night on the pacific coast a species specie of stingray Is the chief offender further damage Is done to oysters by the encroachments encroach ments of mussels bar anacles sponges etc which sometimes som eUmea occur so densely on the shells shell as to cut off of food and oxygen and thus thug greatly retard the growth of the oysters in any consideration of bf the tha worlds world oyster industry the united states plates necessarily essa rily receives first and most prominent mention for there is no country in which oysters occupy a more important place the output here Is 19 1 9 larger and more valuable than elsewhere and the relative importance of oysters compared with the total fishery product tl 13 greater F furthermore urther more among the leading oyster producing countries the cost of oysters to the consumer Is least a and d the per capita consumption Is greatest greatest in the united states additional onal evidence of the conspicuous position held by the oyster ls Is seen in the facts 1 that it Is taken in every coastal state except one 2 that in fifteen states it Is the chief fishery product and 3 that it la Is the most extensively cultivated of our aquatic animals great industry in america the annual oyster output at this thia time Is about bushels with a value to the producers of nearly the yield increased TO 70 per cent in quantity b between tw e al isso and 1912 during the past dee decade ado therl ther liaa hns been a slow decrease in the alzi of the crop The limit of product loi 0 1 has perhaps been practically practical ly deac reached h e I 1 in certain states and in most state the industry Is capable of great e expansion c pan sion in recent years the souta atlantic and gulf states have experienced a noteworthy augmentation ol of yield as a result of increased ampre of the oyster resources and increased encouragement given to ter culture the seven leading oyster stat states at tills this time are rhode island new york new jersey maryland virginia mississippi sis sippi and louisiana in each of 0 which the production ranges from a million bushels upwards maryland la is the rankling ranking state the rank early attained by the united states st ates in the oyster industry was due to the great area of the oyster beds but the maintenance e of f that rank depends on the general genera 1 tol adoption option of oyster culture as the only certain means of insuring a yearly increasing crop that will koep pace with the increasing demand of the oyster markets last year 50 per cent came from private or cultivated grounds owing oft ing however to the improvement in the quality and shape of oysters by cultivation tile the product of the private beds represented 70 per cent of the total value of 0 the yield of market oysters while the quantity of oysters taken from cultivated grounds in the united states Is larger than in pit nil the remainder of the world yet the proportion of such oysters to the total output Is much smaller than in any other important oyster producing country wherever the fishery Is active and the demand great the necessity for artificial measures to maintain the supply sooner or later becomes manifest some of the states long since ceased to place reliance on natural beds as sources of supply and encouraged oyster culture by leasing or sellin ing all available grounds to prospective aih ter farmers and each year kotlier ather states slates fire are falling in line for april progressive gres sive methods |