n REPORT 
 
 iOYSTER INVESTIGATION 
 
 SHELL-FISH COMMISSION, 
 
 For the ^'ear 1:ik1iiiij- November 30th, 1887. 
 
 EUGENE ■(}. BLACKFORD, 
 
 COM rissirxEE of fisheries. 
 
 r 
 
 TRANSMITTED TO THE LEGISLATURE JANUARY 25, 1888. 
 
 THE TROY PRESS COMPANY, PRINTERS. 
 
 1888. 
 
Glass _ ^^. . ^^ y^ (\l 
 
 Book 
 
 
 u 
 
 SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT 
 
-^'^-z? ~.: 
 
 
 
 Long Island Sound Set of iXSy. 
 Average Fi\'f Month's (Irowtli, Life Size. 
 
 I 
 
REPORT 
 
 OYSTER INVESTIGATION 
 
 SHELL-FISH COMMISSION, 
 
 For the Year Enduiii; November 3ulh, 1887. 
 
 EUGENE G. BLACKFORD, 
 
 COMMISSIONER OF FISHBEIES. 
 
 ;§if3A5 
 
 TRANSMITTED TO THE LEGISLATURE JANUARY 23, 18 8 8. 
 
 THE TROY PRESS COMPANY, PRINTERS. 
 
 1888. 
 

State of New York 
 
 No. 37. 
 
 -1^ ^ ^ 3tk^ V — ^ V^_^ fi -■/ A. ^ A _J fi JL_o(/ -IL ( 
 
 January 25,^1888. 
 
 JREPOET 
 
 EUGENE G. BLACKFOKD, SHELL-FISH COMMISSIONER AND 
 COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES IN CHARGE OF OYSTER 
 INVESTIGATION AND SURVEY OP OYSTER TERRITORY 
 FOR THE YEAR ENDING NOVEMBER 30, 1887. 
 
 To the Legislature of the State of New York : 
 
 I hereby have the honor to submit a report of the work 
 accomplished in the survey of the oyster territory of the 
 State, and since June, 1887, as Shell-Fish Commissioner. 
 
 The section in the Supply bill of eighteen hundred and 
 eighty-six, authorizing the oyster investigation, reads as 
 follows: 
 
 " For the Commissioner of Fisheries appointed under 
 chapter three hundred and nine. Laws of eighteen hundred 
 and seventy-nine, the sum of two thousand dollars to be 
 expended as said commissioner may deem proper, apon 
 vouchers to be approved by the Comptroller for the pur- 
 pose of oyster investigation." 
 
 An item in the supply bill of 1887, directed me to finish 
 and complete the survey of all the lands under the waters 
 of the State, suitable for oyster culture, aiid appropriating 
 the sum of $5,000, but no part of this sum was to be 
 expended until the Comptroller should be satisfied that 
 the work contemulated could be done within the limits of 
 
4 Report of Oyster Investkiation 
 
 the a|)i)ro])i'iation. In addition to this work of investiga- 
 tion and survey, I was designated by chapter 584, Laws of 
 1887, as Shell-Fish Commissioner and directed to survey the 
 oyster territory of the State, designate and set apart the 
 natural growth beds of oysters, ascertain the owners of all 
 artificially planted beds and survey and definitely locate 
 such beds. 
 
 As far as the work of oyster investigation is concerned, 
 this is the third and final report, and I take great pleasure 
 in submitting it. That the work is finished is in itself a 
 great satisfaction, and that it is finished successfully and 
 agreeably to the oystermen of the State is an additional 
 source of gratification to me. In my report for 1886 in 
 which I gave the results of two years of ddigent investiga- 
 tion, I suggested a remedy for what was the principal cause 
 of the insiuration of the item in the supply bill, authoriz- 
 ing the investigation, /'. e., the cause of the decrease in the 
 sui)ply of oysters and recommended the passage of a law. 
 In my report I said "the cause of the decrease in the 
 supply of oysters is two-fold; first, the depletion of the 
 natural growth oyster beds from over-fishing, and second, 
 the lack of a thorough and scientific culture of planted 
 beds. 
 
 As a remedy for the first cause, I suggested that the beds 
 of oysters of natural growth be set apart and preserved, 
 and that I continue the experiments already begun in the 
 artificial ])ropagation of oysters. 
 
 In regard to the second, I said: 
 
 " Planters can not be expected to cultivate oysters scien- 
 tifically, and at great expense unless they can be reasonably 
 certain that they will not be disturbed in the possession of 
 their grounds. Security of tenure must first be given the 
 planter, before the cultivation of private beds can reach 
 its fullest and most profitable development." 
 
 To carry out this idea I recommended the passage of a 
 law, which passed with some slight modifications, provid- 
 ing for the sale, at a nominal price to planters, of all the 
 lands under the waters of the State, suitable for the culti- 
 vation of shell- fish. At this point, it may be interesting to 
 speak more at length regarding the depletion of the beds 
 
AND Shell-Fish Co3imisston. 5 
 
 of oysters of natural growth, once the only source of oyster 
 supply. 
 
 Bed after bed of oysters of natural growth has gradually 
 disappeared and, as in every other instance, when natural 
 supplies fail, recourse was had to artificial propagation. 
 
 The high state of civilization of the present day is due to 
 the fact that each generation commences very nearly where 
 the past left off. Did each man have to gain all his infor- 
 mation from experience, he would have to live a good many 
 centuries in order to be up to the times. 
 
 Happily the man who first applied steam to produce 
 work did not let his invention die with him; but passed it 
 on to his fellow-men, and they on to their successors, until 
 at the present day we are surrounded by the thousa,nds of 
 engines, surpassing the most imaginative dreams of our 
 forefathers. 
 
 If we profit by example, we are simply using common 
 sense; if we fail to do so, we are to be pitied. 
 
 One hundred years ago our woods abounded in game ; a 
 few years ago our prairies contained thousands of buffalo. 
 Every one knows to what extent the sux:)ply has been 
 reduced. 
 
 The experience of European countries has been that all 
 natural growth oyster beds will become over-worked; and 
 to illustrate this, I will cite a few extracts from a rei)ort of 
 Prof. Karl Mobius, Professor of Zoology at Kiel: 
 
 "According to the statement of Mr. Webber, mayor of 
 Falmouth, 700 men, working 300 boats, were profitably 
 employed in oyster fishing in the neighborhood of Fal- 
 mouth prior to 186G; but since then the beds have become 
 so impoverished that now, in 1876, only about forty men 
 with less than forty boats can find employment, and even 
 with this greatly diminished number of boats, no single 
 boat takes daily more than from 60 to 100 oysters, while 
 formerly in the same time a boat could take from ten to 
 twelve thousand. About the year 1830 an oyster bed was 
 discovered upon the English coast, near Dudgeon Light 
 containing an immense number of oysters, among which 
 were very many old ones. 
 
 During the next three or four years, this bed was fished 
 
6 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 so perseveringly and disastrously, that since then it has 
 not produced enoui^h oysters to be worth recording. 
 Between the years 1840 and 1850, there were in the harbor 
 of Emsworth so many oysters that one man in a single tide 
 (five hours) could take from fifteen to twenty casks, each 
 containing 1,600 oysters. Later, 70 to 100 sailing vessels 
 from Colchester came into the harbor and fished up so 
 many young and old oysters during the two or three weeks 
 they were there, that in the year 1858, scarcely ten vessels 
 could load there, and in 18(38 the beds were so impover- 
 ished by this fishing, that a dredge in five hours could not 
 gather more than twenty oysters. 
 
 From the beds of the districts of Rochefort, Marennes, 
 and the island of Oleron, on the west coast of France, there 
 were taken in the years 1853-54, ten millions of oysters, and 
 in 1854-5, fifteen millions. 
 
 By means of long continued and exhaustive fishing they 
 were rendered so poor, that in 1863-64, only 400,000 oysters 
 were furnished for market. 
 
 The very celebrated rich oyster beds of the Bay of Can- 
 cale, on the coast of Normandy, have produced, according 
 to official reports, the following number of oysters : 
 
 Number of 
 Year. oysters taken. 
 
 1847 71,000,000 
 
 1848 60,000,000 
 
 1849 52,000,000 
 
 1850 50,000,000 
 
 1851 47,000,000 
 
 1852 20,000,000 
 
 1853 49,000,000 
 
 1854 20,000,000 
 
 1855 20,000,000 
 
 1856 18,000,000 
 
 1857 19,000,000 
 
 1858 24,000,000 
 
 1859 16,000,000 
 
 1860 8,000,000 
 
 1861 9,000,000 
 
 1862 3,000,000 
 
 1863 2,000,000 
 
AND Shell-Fish Commission, 7 
 
 Number of 
 
 Year. oysters taken. 
 
 1864 2,000,000 
 
 1865 1,000,000 
 
 1866. 1,000,000 
 
 1867 2,000,000 
 
 The French, ever ready to advance m the arts, seem to 
 have been the first to cultivate oysters on any large scale ; 
 and, as their experience may be valuable, I will y;ive a brief 
 outline of their pro<i,Tess. 
 
 The natural beds of oysters were gradually giving out, 
 the prospect for future supply was down to its lowest ebb, 
 when M. Coste, the father of the shell-fish interests of 
 France, determined to experiment upon the production 
 of oysters artificially. That is to say, to try and collect 
 the spat as it came by natural means upon collectors, 
 though not to attempt artificial fertilization of eggs. He 
 was very sanguine at first and based some of his expecta- 
 tions upon the theoretical calculations of what could be 
 done, knowing that a good size spawner is capable of pro- 
 ducing 50,000,000 young. 
 
 His experiments were very elaborate and cost a large 
 amount of money. He did not accomplish the astonishing 
 results he anticipated ; but he succeeded in revolutionizing 
 the system and bringing about results that increased the 
 supply many fold. The following table taken from 
 the report of M. Brocchi, to the minister of marine in 
 France, will show the increase in ten years in the basin 
 of Arcachon alone : 
 
 Number of oysters 
 Year. exported. Value in francs. 
 
 1871 4,897,500 268,332 50 
 
 1872 10,796,740 537,515 00 
 
 1873 25,711,750 1,159,397 00 
 
 1874 42,542,650 1,745,050 00 
 
 1875 112,715,233 2,817,630 00 
 
 1876 196,885,450 3,941,309 00 
 
 1877 202,392,225 4,456,288 00 
 
 1878 176,500,225 4,426,500 63 
 
 1879 160,197,275 3,944,24188 
 
 1880 195,477,357 4,254,465 64 
 
8 Retort of Oyster Investigation 
 
 From this we see an increase of 1,487 per cent in ten 
 years of the value of the oysters, while the people of the 
 country had an increase of 3,890 per cent in the number of 
 oysters consumed. 
 
 The French method consists substantially in suspending 
 tiles in the waters during the s pawing season. They found 
 that the young oysters clung very closely to these tiles ; 
 so they take the trouble to coat each with plaster, and 
 after the .young oysters have set upon it, take them up, 
 separate the plaster from them with knives, and use the 
 tiles again the next spawing season. The plaster holding 
 the set is then planted and the young oysters cultivated. 
 
 Our system, as in use in Long Island sound, is upon the 
 same principle, only we are more fortunate, inasmuch as 
 we do not have to resort to so troublesome and expensive 
 a method of collecting the spat. Our refuse oyster shells, 
 deckers, cinders, etc., serve as collectors and produce 
 splendid results. In fact, our favorable conditions on this 
 side have caused a great deal of comment from foreign 
 authors, and our yield airpears to them to be something 
 remarkable. They are all unanimous, however, in declar- 
 ing, from their own experience, that if we do not go into 
 the cultivation more vigorously we will go down in the 
 scale instead of up, and Americans certainly ought to be 
 smart enough to i)rofit by such examples. 
 
 The oyster supply for the future must then come from 
 artificial beds, and to aid the cultivation of these was the 
 purpose of the bill passed by the Legislature, and in its 
 results will, I believe, be found the solution of the oyster 
 question, and the remedy for the cause of the decrease in 
 the supply of oysters. 
 
 That this is believed to be true by the practical oyster- 
 men of the State, is shown by the number of applications 
 already received for franchises in the lands under the 
 waters of the State. Nearly 250 applications have already 
 been received and new ones are coming in every day. The 
 great work conse(}uent to the proper organization of this 
 branch of the duties of the Commissioners of Fisheries 
 and the i)reliminary routine necessary before anything 
 definite could be done, ])revented the granting of fran- 
 
AND Shell-Fish Co3iMissiON. 9 
 
 chises as yet, but 100 are in condition to be granted at the 
 January meeting of the commission. 
 
 The commissioners have fixed the price for lands now in 
 cultivation and use at fifty cents per acre, and have pro- 
 vided that new lands shall be sold at auction, at a sum not 
 less than one dollar per acre; so that in addition to the 
 great protection and security afforded the planter, a large 
 income will be derived by the State from this source. 
 
 The principal work of the investigation done by me 
 during the past year has been in the direction of ascertain- 
 ing, if possible, the nutritive value of oysters, the effect of 
 floating, and the collection of information regarding oyster 
 food. 
 
 I wish to call especial attention to the report of Prof. W. 
 0. Atwater, of Wesleyan University, on the floating of 
 oysters. It will be found in full in the ai:)pendix. 
 
 Until lately, extremely little has been known of the 
 chemical composition and food values of oysters and other 
 shell-fish, and the larger part of what has been discovered 
 comes from the investigations which have been conducted 
 in the laboratory of Wesleyan University and elsewhere. 
 Besides the information given as to the food values of 
 oysters, much is said of their changes in comi)Osition and 
 nutritive value in the process of floating, or as it is some- 
 times called, fattening, which is very generally i^racticed 
 in preparing for the market. 
 
 It appears that, speaking roughly, a quart of oysters 
 contains, on an average, about the same (luantity of actual 
 nutritive substance as a quart of milk, or a pound of very 
 lean beef, or a pound and a half of fresh codfish, or two- 
 thirds of a pound of bread. But, while the weight of 
 actual nutriment in the different quantities of the food 
 materials named is very nearly the same, the ({uality is 
 widely different. That of the very lean meat or codfish 
 consists mostly of what are called in chemical language 
 "protein" compounds or "flesh formers," the substances 
 which make blood, muscle, tendon, bone, brain and other 
 nitrogenous tissues; that of the bread contains but little 
 of these, and consists chiefly of starch, with a little fat 
 2 
 
10 'Report of Oysteb Investigation 
 
 and other compounds, which serve the body as fuel and 
 supply it with heat and muscular power. 
 
 Professor Atwater goes on to say that the nutritive 
 substance of oysters, like that of meat, which is very 
 similar, contains the so-called "flesh forming," and the 
 more specially heat and force-giving, ingredients. In short, 
 oysters come nearer to milk than almost any other com- 
 mon food material as regards both the quantity of nutrients 
 and the food values of each for supplying the body with 
 material to build up its parts, repair its wastes and furnish 
 it with heat and energy. As he sfca'tes, however, the scien- 
 tific studies are so incomplete, that although these state- 
 ments are correct as a whole, we must be careful about 
 insisting too strongly u])on the absolute accuracy of the 
 details. 
 
 The differences which oystermen observe in the quality 
 of oysters from different localities of different age and 
 grown under different conditions, are made clearer and are 
 to a considerable extent explained by chemical analysis. 
 Taking the oysters in the shell, the proi)ortion of shell con- 
 tents "meat and liquor" together increases relatively to 
 the whole weight as the animal grows, at least up to a cer- 
 tain limit. In other words a bushel of mature oysters will 
 open more quarts than a bushel of the very young animals; 
 but the differences between different kinds or between 
 specimens of the same kind under different conditions are 
 very wide. Taking the edible portion of the oyster after 
 it has been removed from the shell the differences are much 
 greater than people commonly sup]:)Ose. This is apparent 
 when we compare either the "flesh," meats or licpiids, 
 "li(iuor" of different specimens or the whole edible por- 
 tion, meats and li(iuor " solids " together. The percentage 
 of water in the edible portion of the different specimens of 
 oysters reported in the tables beyond varied from eighty- 
 three and four-tenths per cent to ninety-one and four- 
 tenths per cent, and averaged eighty-seven and three-tenths 
 per cent. This makes the amounts of " water-free sub- 
 stances, /. e., actually nutritive ingredients vary from six- 
 teen and six-tenths per cent to eighth and six-tenths per 
 cent, and average twelve and seven- tenths per cent of the 
 
AND Shell-Fish Comnission. 11 
 
 whole weight of the edible portion (shell contents) of the 
 animals." 
 
 Clams, mussels and scollops likewise show variation in 
 composition, but the totals amounts of nutritive material 
 are a little larger than an oyster. Then the specimens of 
 round clams average thirteen and eighth -tenths per cent, 
 the long clams fourteen and one-tenth per cent, the mus- 
 sels fifteen and eighth- tenths per cent, and the scollops 
 in the flesh, as ordinarily sold, nineteen and seven-tenths 
 per cent of nutritive ingredients. 
 
 The canned oysters averaged fourteen and eighth -tenths 
 per cent of nutritive material a little more than fresh 
 oysters, the difference being apparently due to their hav- 
 ing a small proportion of liciuid. From a number of 
 experiments on the floating of oysters. Prof. Atwater 
 makes the following conclusions : 
 
 "The oysters in 'floating' in fresher water, for some 
 hours after they were taken from the beds in salt water, as 
 is commonly done in preparing them for the market, gained 
 from one -eighth to one -fifth in bulk and weight by taking 
 up water, but at the same time lost about one- tenth of 
 their nutritive material. Thej' did this by processes 
 essentially similar to those which go on in our bodies, 
 and by which the digested food passes from the alimen- 
 tary canal into the blood to be used for nourishment." 
 
 This work of Prof. Atwater's is of the greatest possible 
 value and can not be too highly appreciated. There is a 
 popular expression that oysters and other shell-fish are 
 merely luxuries and are worth very little for real nourish- 
 ment. The importance of investigations which are calcu- 
 lated not only to show the food value but to help the 
 oyster culturist to make his products more valuable is too 
 apparent to need argument. 
 
 Whatever else I have done in the way of investigation 
 will be found under appropriate heads, and should be read 
 carefully by all interested in oyster culture. 
 
 The details of the work in surveying the oyster territory 
 of the State will be found in the report of the engineer. 
 The work has been conducted through the year very suc- 
 cessfully and reflects great credit upon the engineer, Mr. 
 
12 Repobt of Oyster Investigation 
 
 W. G. Ford, Jr. In fact, had it not been for his iTntiring 
 energy and marked professional skill, it would have been 
 impossible, even with the assistance of the U. S. Coast and 
 Geodetic Survey to complete the "work contemplated 
 within the limits of the appropriation." 
 
 Indeed the State Engineer, Mr. Sweet, advised the Comp- 
 troller that it could not be done, and some difficulty was 
 experienced at first in securing the appropriation; but 
 finally through the kind efforts of the dej)uty comptroller, 
 Mr. Hall, the Comi)troller agreed to audit the accounts of 
 the engineer, and the work began. The results of the labor 
 ])erformed are most satisfactory. The whole of Long 
 Island sound was surveyed, natural growth beds being 
 located and accurately defined, the balance of the territory 
 put in such a position as to be easily available for sale by 
 the commissioners. 
 
 Nothing remains to be done now except the i)reparation 
 of the necessary raa])S, and these the engineer will soon 
 have com])leted. Mr. Ford has also rendered me valuable 
 assistance in my work as Shell-Fish Commissioner, desig- 
 nating the occupants of artificially planted beds and in 
 settling disputes, notably in the cases of Smithtown and 
 Little Neck bays, as to what constitutes a bed of oysters 
 of natural growth. I can not speak too highly of him in his 
 department. 
 
 As to my work as Shell-Fish Commissioner, I can make 
 but a brief re]^ort. Beyond the investigation s])oken of 
 above as to Little Neck and Smithtown bays, and the 
 designation of occupants of the lands under water in Rar- 
 itan bay, but little has been done up to this date (Novem- 
 ber 30). 
 
 My action with my colleagues will be found in full in the 
 minutes of the Commissioners of Fisheries, and a report of 
 my other work will be found in the i-ej^ort of the engineer. 
 
 A coi)y of the rules a(l()])ted i)reliminary to the granting 
 of franchises, blank applications, and other forms will be 
 found in the api^endix. Under chapter 300, Laws of 1886, 
 I was given su])ervision of the enforcement of the law, and 
 was authorized to appoint a State oyster protector, who 
 should report to me. 
 
AND Shell-Fish Co3Imission. 13 
 
 Mr. Joseph W. Mersereau, who was appointed State 
 oyster protector, has given me much satisfaction by his 
 faithful work during the present year. Through his vigi- 
 lance aud activity the evil of refuse dumping has been 
 materially diminished in the vicinity of oyster beds. 
 Oystermen unanimously testify to the improved condition, 
 and there can be no doubt but that the vigorous enforce- 
 ment of this law has had a salutary effect. 
 
 Mr. Mersereau has recently secured indictments against 
 a number of gas companies in New York and Westchester 
 counties, and it is hoped that the cases will be pressed and 
 conviction obtained. 
 
 His report will be found very interesting, and I have 
 given it in full. The results shown are very gratifying 
 and I heartily approve Mr. Mersereau's recommendations. 
 More adequate steps should be taken, as he suggests, to 
 guard the vast oyster territory of the State, and larger 
 appropriations should be made. 
 
 I think also it is but just that Mr. Mersereau's request 
 for an increase of salary should be granted. He is a man 
 of more than ordinary ability, and is compelled to give his 
 entire time to this work. There should be no false 
 economy by the State in this work, as every cent spent in 
 developing and guarding this great source of food supply 
 is well invested. 
 
 With the beds of oysters of natural growth set apart and 
 preserved, the foundation of the system of artificial culti- 
 vation upon a certain and definite basis and the prevention 
 of the further pollution of the waters of the State, the 
 oyster industry bids fair to become one of the great and 
 profitable industries of the State. 
 
 Respectfully submitted. 
 
 EUGENE G. BLACKFORD. 
 
Report of W. G. Ford, Jr., Engineer 
 
 New York, November 30, 1887. 
 
 Mr. Eugene G. Blackford, ShelJ-Fhli Commissioner, New York, 
 N Y.: 
 
 Sir. — I have the honor to submit the following report of the 
 work of the engineering department since November 30, 1886. 
 
 To simplify matters, I will divide my subject into two parts — 
 the office work and the field work. 
 
 Office Work. 
 
 During the winter months the time was taken up by developing 
 the field-notes taken during the previous summer, and in laying 
 out the scheme of work for the next mild season. The triangles 
 on Staten Island wore computed trigonometrically, and at the same 
 time spherically. That is to sa}^, the earth was not regarded as 
 flat, but as a curved surface ; and allowance was made for the cur- 
 vature. It is true that the differences are not very large ; but the 
 latter method is exact, and the former is not ; and the value of the 
 property to be deeded from these triangulation points, and hence 
 dependent upon them, most certainly warrants the expenditure of 
 the additional time and pains required in this style of com]3utation. 
 After the points had been computed and reduced to perpendicular 
 coordinates, they were plotted on polyconic projections of Clark's 
 spheroid of 18G6, on the scale of 1:5000. They covered five sheets 
 of anti(piarian paper. From these, as bases, all the subsidiary 
 points determined Ijy triple cuts, were put upon the projections 
 and checked in eacli case. Tracings of the topography having 
 been furnished through the kindness of the Coast Survey, I ran in 
 the shore line at low- water mark, and transferred a good deal of 
 the topography on the western sheets, where the grounds are 
 particularly valuable. 
 
 I have plotted all the corners of oyster lots determined in Prin- 
 cess bay, affixed their pro]')er numl)ers, connected the several lines, 
 and in this way showing the relative position of each lot surveyed, 
 
Oyster Investigation and Shell- Fish Commission. 15 
 
 itsl^area, ancl^'its 'place on the sphere — in other words, its lati- 
 tude and longitude. 
 
 The land on the hard bottom near Ward's point is particularly 
 adapted for the cultivation of shell-fish, and is much sought for 
 and highly prized. Its A^alue is easily appreciated by noticing the 
 very small lots into which it is divided. Most of it is in from one 
 to four or five acre lots, and in some cases less than one acre. 
 
 The lines of boundary are shown by stakes ; and at low-water 
 the field gives the appearance of a young nursery. 
 
 These plots of ground are in irregular shapes, very few being 
 rectangular, and fewer still square. It is a mystery to the unin- 
 itiated, how the different little farms can be cultivated by almost as 
 many different owners without encroachment. There is scarcely 
 any poaching from neighbors, however, though marauders from 
 other places are sometimes a little troublesome, and necessitate the 
 employment of watchmen. 
 
 The map of these lots resembles to some extent the much 
 quoted Chinese puzzle ; but like it, is as easily unraveled when 
 the key is produced — our records on file at the office. For 
 instance : Lot 999 would belong to John Doe and be bounded by 
 K. 14 ; K. 15 ; K. 16, and K. 17, representing the N. E., S. E., S. W. 
 and N. W. corners respectively. By turning to page 14 book K. 
 a complete record of the N. E. corner is found from which the 
 point can be mapped geographically, or the mark at the corner be 
 replaced, should it be swept away, and so on. 
 
 Should some mischief-maker come along and remove the 
 boundaries, long disputes and possible litigation can be avoided 
 by simply sending a hydrographic engineer to show where the 
 boundaries had been, and where to place new stakes. 
 
 Some corners are so happily situated as to be at the intersection 
 of prominent ranges on shore ; but when the ccn-ners are a little 
 way off shore, this is of rare occurrence. Many devices are 
 resorted to to mark corners in such a manner as to be identified in 
 thick weather and soon become known to all the tongers. For 
 instance, I know of a case in which a man hung an old hoopskirt 
 to one stake, and his land is known as the " hoopskirt property " 
 to this day. But with a view to perfecting our system, I would 
 recommend that each owner bend to his corners little tags of 
 wood or tin (wire fastenings) with the number by which it goes in 
 the office, cut or stamped upon them. This method would aid 
 
16 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 very largely iu the conviction of thieves prosecuted for stealing. 
 If a man were known to be stealing, any neighbor could go the 
 stakes surrounding the culjDrit, note their numbers, and find out 
 the owner in this way if he were not familiar with the vicinity, and 
 report to him the theft. 
 
 After all the lots had been plotted, the position of the places at 
 which specimens of the bottom had been taken were mapped, 
 marked in red, and numbered thus, "S. 74." Referring to speci- 
 men book 74 would be found to be : "Very hard bottom, coarse 
 gravel and sand." 
 
 The hydrographic notes furnished by Lieutenant G. C. Han us, 
 U. S. N., for the western part of the bay, wer«j developed and 
 portrayed on tracing cloth, with reference to meridians and paral- 
 lels, and also to the topography, so that it could be fitted over the 
 standard sheet and show where the soundings belong without com- 
 plicating the already well covered sheet below. 
 
 Great care is required by the standard maps ; difference in tem- 
 perature and moisture are serious enemies, and hence they are 
 kept in tin cases and not used for ordinary work. In order to 
 follow up the work in the field as I go along, it is necessary to 
 have either these maps or duplicates. These last are called " boat 
 sheets." I have made a complete set of boat sheets, and have 
 them stowed away in a tin case ready for use at any time. 
 
 Duplicates of all the records were made in ink, so as to guard 
 against those accidents which experience has taught occur in spite 
 of the utmost care. Much labor and pains were put upon our 
 books of descriptions of signals, and I take pride in presenting 
 them to you. They are composed of three volumes, arranged alpha- 
 betically, with space left for the insertion of descriptions of new sig- 
 nals and changes that may occur from time to time in the old . 
 Nearly every signal has, besides its description, angles taken from 
 the center of station, sketches of the locality, or else topographical 
 drawings of the surroundings. They are so complete that any 
 hydrographic engineer could recover the points without the least 
 difficulty. These books are of an importance rarely appreciated 
 until too late. It is the easiest thing in the world to write a poor 
 description of a good signal, but one of the hardest to write a good 
 one — one in which all the effects of decay ai-e contemplated and 
 provided for. 
 
AND kSllELL-FlSH COMNISSrON. \ 7 
 
 The specimens of water over the natural beds had been stored 
 in quart bottles and preserved for investigation. The contents of 
 each bottle was emptied into a salinometer pot, the density 
 measured and the results tabulated. 
 
 During the winter there were several meetings of oystermen, at 
 which the subject of legislation was discussed, with a view to 
 framing some just law for the protection of the shell-fish interests. 
 At all of these meetings I was present, and gave data and details 
 of the oyster lands of the State. Nearly every day some one 
 interested in the production of oysters called at the office to gain 
 technical information. I received all these applicants and pro- 
 vided them with what they wanted so far as lay in my power. The 
 latter part of the winter season was devoted to preparations for 
 the coming summer's work. 
 
 Field Work. 
 
 I take particular pleasure in presenting the work of the past 
 summer both on account of the very satisfactory results accom- 
 plished, and from the fact that we had some of the most trying 
 difficulties to overcome that could possibly fall to the lot of a 
 hydrographic engineer. 
 
 In the first place the Legislature did not enact the laws and pass 
 the appropriation affecting us until the latter part of the session, 
 and the bill under which the franchises are to be sold, was not 
 signed by the Governor until after the middle of June ; and upon 
 the latter depended, to a great extent, the character of the work to 
 be carried out this year. This made a delay in the start that 
 caused us the loss of a good deal of fine weather which might 
 have been devoted to field work. 
 
 By your directions, however, all the preparati(ms were made for 
 whatever turn affjiirs might take, and the day the bill was signed 
 found us in possession of a government vessel, manned and pre- 
 paring for sea. 
 
 Having learned from experience the ready way in which the 
 Coast Survey responds to all meritorious calls for aid in the 
 advancement of sciences and practical arts in different States, we 
 applied to them for aid. By your direction I proceeded to Wash- 
 ington in May, and requested Mr. F. M. Thorn, the superintendent, 
 to lend us a government vessel for the summer. 
 3 
 
18 Be FORT OF Oyster Investkiation 
 
 After explaining the situation to him thoroughly, he agreed to 
 our proposition, upon the condition that we would ]irovide the 
 vessel with all necessary equipment, keep her in shij^-shape 
 manner, and return her in good condition. 
 
 The steamer " Arago " was offered us, but the expense of run- 
 ning a steamer was too great for the small appropriation at our 
 disposjd. The most economical method was to use a sailing 
 vessel, and the superintendent kindly granted us the schooner 
 "Drift." As soon as possible the necessary official papers were 
 sent us and we took the " Drift " out of the navy yard about the 
 middle of June. 
 
 As the vessel had been out of commission for a good many 
 months and had been lying in a ])asiu all that time and was com- 
 pletely unrigged, there was a great deal to do to get her ship 
 shape. First of all we put her in dry dock and had the barnacles 
 scraped off, and the metal repaired wherever needed; and after 
 that, ran down the bay to "fit out." 
 
 The vessel was rigged carefully, put in thorough repair and 
 kept in that condition all summer. 
 
 Lieut. Commander W. H. Brownson, IT. S. N., hydrographic 
 inspector, very kindly visited the vessel and placed at our disposal 
 any of the gear and equipment to be found on the Coast Survey 
 vessels at the navy yard not in commission. I would like to say 
 just here that a great part of the success of my work is due to the 
 very hearty cor)peration of Captain Brov/nson. Without his aid I 
 could not possil^ly have accomplished nearly as much as I did. 
 
 Our field of operations was to be Long Island sound. The 
 object to be accomplished was the com]5letion of the general sur- 
 vey of the shell-fish territory, and of the determination of the 
 limits of the natural growth oyster beds. 
 
 The primary work was to form a chain of determined geograph- 
 ical points all along the shore of Long Island bordering on the 
 oyster territory under State jurisdiction. These points were to be 
 marked and made prominent by the erection of wooden tripods 
 above them, so they could be seen from the Avater. They had to 
 be at short intervals, in order that any point upon the water could 
 be determined by using them in connection with the " three-point 
 problem." 
 
 If all this territory were far off shore it would not be necessary 
 to have so many points, but as most of it extends close into shore, 
 
AND SiJELL-Fisii Commission. 19 
 
 and as that near shore is generally the first located, the necessity 
 of multiplying these points became of vital importance. The 
 Coast Survey, through the courtesy of Mr. B. A. Colona, assistant 
 in charge of ofiice, gave us a great many triangulatiou points, a 
 large number of which we used. From these, as bases, we deter- 
 mined all the additional points necessary. This relieved me of 
 the necessity of prosecuting a primary triangulatiou, such as I was 
 compelled to do on a previous occasion. 
 
 Sometimes we found Coast Survey tripods standing over these 
 triangulatiou points ; and sometimes all traces of their existence 
 had been extinguished. Whenever we found a Coast Survey point 
 we examined it carefully, verified the marks and repaired the tri- 
 pods from time to time, to add to their preservation. Complete 
 notes of the condition and changes, and the additional marks put 
 up, were entered in the records and also furnished the Coast 
 Survey office in Washington. 
 
 In doing this work, the vessel was moved along from station to 
 station as a base, and the work was done from whale boats. 
 Wherever possible the vessel was left in a harbor, and the triangu- 
 latiou carried forward and back. The shore line covered about 140 
 miles ; but in order to determine the signals along the beach it 
 was often necessary to go two or three miles back into the country. 
 My party tramped over many weary miles in this work, but covered 
 the ground between stations as much as possible by boat. 
 
 Finishing our observations at one point, the instruments would be 
 put into the boat and the men would pull as near the next station 
 as possible, clapping on sail every time there was a slant of wind. 
 In this way I have often covered from twenty to thirty miles in 
 one day. 
 
 There was only one triangulatiou point in Little Neck bay, and 
 so the points had to be carried along both shores from j^oints out- 
 side. In this bay we were particularly fortunate in finding sub- 
 stantial and conspicuous natural objects for signals ; as, for 
 instance, a hole in the top of the famous Saddle Eock. 
 
 From here to Oj'^ster bay the signals had to be numerous, owing 
 to the many beds and the 'availability of the lands close to shore, 
 We had worked to Oyster bay harbor when the greatest disaster 
 of the season befell us ; namely, the refusal of the Comptroller to 
 honor our drafts. There is nothing more demoralizing to a party 
 in the field than the knowledge that there is a doubt as to the pay 
 of the men and the settlement of the bills. 
 
20 Report of Ovster Inx'estiuation 
 
 The wording of the hiw under which the money for the survey 
 was appropriated was such that the Comptroller was required to 
 be satisfied that the work for which the appropriation was made 
 would be completed within tlie limits of that sum before he could 
 issue any of it. There being no doubt in our minds as to this fact, 
 we naturally went ahead with the work in good faith, and the 
 money advanced by you covered all our expenses. 
 
 There were also some $1,100 we had carefully saved out of a 
 former appropriation, with a view to putting it to its greatest 
 advantage this summer ; but the Comptrollei" declared it was no 
 longer available, and would not issue any of it. In the meantime, 
 he declined to accede to our requests upon the ground that he was 
 not convinced we could accomplish such a large amount of work 
 with so little money. 
 
 I presented the facts to him and his deputy, and was referred to 
 the State Engineer for his opinion. The latter was loth to believe 
 we could accomplish such results, although I presented him with 
 maps and other data representing good showings of work already 
 done ; explained that we had the use of a government vessel free of 
 charge ; that I sailed and navigated her myself, and in this way 
 avoided the expense of a sailing master; that I held a pilot 
 license, and could do away with a pilot; that everything was in 
 running order and reduced to a system, and that I would stake my 
 personal reputation upon the accomplishing of the work in the 
 time required. This was backed by letters from some of the best 
 known experts in the country. 
 
 I can not blame these gentlemen for adhering to their beliefs ; 
 but it was extremely unfortunate that such a thing should happen 
 just at this time ; and our results have proved that we were .justi- 
 fied in our impatience to push on. But when the work did go on, 
 it was under trying circumstances ; crippled to the extent of losing 
 one-sixth of the original moneys, and with three weeks time to 
 make up. Now, that it is over, I look back with amusement at the 
 many devices resorted to in order to save a penny here and there, 
 though extremely trying at the time. It meant being on the jump 
 from half-past 5 in the morning often imtil after dark ; frequently 
 followed liy writing by lamp-light, and, ])erhaps, a turn-out in the 
 middle of the night if it came on to blow. 
 
 As we moved to the eastward, the sound being wider, we had to 
 construct our signals on a much larger scale. From Eaton's Neck 
 

 Vyt,f%y^ [^\^y\^^\^ ^ ,^^,^ 
 
 ■^'*'^*^5 iM^#K»|nf|ifi^*, ';;,v 
 
 
 
AND Shell-Fish Commission. 21 
 
 on, most of tliem had to be made of heavy scantliug, generally 
 about twenty feet high, and boarded up and whitewashed. It 
 takes about two hours with a full force to construct one of these 
 tripods, if they are carefully centered and substantially made. 
 
 There are "no harbors on the New York side of the sound 
 between Port Jefferson and Greenport, and we had to anchor out 
 some distance from the shore in order to have plenty of room to 
 cast should a gale come up. Several times we had to get up anchor 
 and run. The weather became unusually cool in September and 
 the sound frequently rough. From the tenth of September until 
 the twenty-eighth, inclusive, we only had one entire good or favor- 
 able day, so the work had to be done by jumps. For a long time, 
 even when the wind was north-west (which was most frequently 
 the case), the air was filled with mist or smoke. It gave the gen- 
 eral appearance of easterly weather. Even the sun appeared* fiery 
 red and the moon deep orange. It was very hard to see on any day 
 but one, and I was often obliged to strain eyes for hours at a time 
 before being able to get the proper sights. 
 
 Every one knows what a mean sea can be found on Long Island 
 sound ; and when we had stiff winds from the northward it meant 
 a wetting up to waist or neck every time in landing, and great care 
 and exertion to keep from hurting the whaleboats, especially in 
 some of the places where the rocks extend for miles all along the 
 shore and out to the water. On one occasion our starboard whale- 
 boat was in the surf and in imminent danger of being smashed to 
 pieces on the rocks. Although the water was very cold, Mr. Young 
 jumped in and swam with his clothes on to the assistance of the boat- 
 keeper, and the boat was saved. 
 
 Nevertheless, we carried our survey all the way to Plum Gut, 
 which is the limit of the oyster territory under our jurisdiction. 
 During the month of September I made harbor in New Haven 
 twice, and took advantage of the ^opportunity of visiting the shell- 
 fish commissioners of Connecticut. Mr. James P. Bogart, engi- 
 neer of th6 commission, kindly showed me many things of interest 
 connected with the oyster industry of his State. Particularly 
 noticeable was the equipment of the oyster steamer " Luzerne 
 Ludington." She was fitted with a Westinghouse engine, Korting 
 injectors, speed regulator worked from the pilot-house, two inde- 
 pendent dredges and equipments, etc., including hoisting engine 
 and Frisbie friction clutches. She uses very large dredges and has 
 
'22 Eepojrt of Oyster Jxvestigation 
 
 plenty of power. We visited tlie oyster shucking room of Capi 
 Caleb L. Ludington, where young girls were busily engaged open- 
 ing oysters. Many of them can open eighty quarts a day, and 
 make as much as fifteen or eighteen dollars per week. 
 
 New Haven furnishes many of the Connecticat and Massachu- 
 setts towns with oysters by the quart or gallon, and even sends 
 some to New York, while her export trade is enormous. There are 
 some 80,000 acres of land on the Connecticut tax list, and the 
 industry in that State, by the judicious guidance of the shell-fishery 
 commission, has been brought forward in a manner to attract atten- 
 tion all over the country. It shows what can be done by system, 
 concentration and moderately liberal appropriations. 
 
 In obedience to your instructions I left the "Drift" in Cold 
 Spring Harbor and came to New York to attend the meeting of the 
 Fish Commissioners relating to the shell-fish territor}^ and to show 
 them over the oyster grounds. 
 
 • I joined Messrs. Roosevelt, Bowman, Joline, Green and yourself 
 on the oyster steamer " Mystery " September 6th, and as we steamed 
 up East river pointed out the position of natural beds, signals, etc., 
 showing the College Point, Whitestone, Hameiin Flats, Millett's 
 Point, Throg's Neck, Great Neck bed, etc. AVe explained to the 
 commissioners the general character of the beds, and as we went 
 along showed the location of the Pelham Bay, Stepping Stones, 
 City Island, Hart Island, Gangway Buoy, Barker's Point beds, and 
 finally brought up on Execution bed, upon which we made hauls 
 of a "general cargo," as they expressed it. 
 
 After leaving here we passed over successively the Hempstead, 
 Peacock Point, Lloyd's Neck and Eaton's Neck beds, stopping at 
 Cold Spring Harbor on the way to inspect the "Drift;" and 
 finally making an examination of Smithtown bay. 
 
 The next day we visited Princess bay, Gravesend bay, and the 
 
 Arthur Kills. 
 
 Little Neck Bay. 
 
 In examining this bed last year, it was from a vessel drawing 
 too much water to allow us to run into the bay ; and while in 
 doubt as to the character of the inside portion where the water 
 was very shoal, we classified it natural growth until it could be 
 examined in detail. This was left until the last thing of the past 
 season when there was nothing ahead of it to push it or prevent a 
 thorough overhauling. 
 
AND SlIELL-FlSn C0M3IISSI0N. 'v>r3 
 
 We ancliored some distance off what we considered the outer 
 limit of the bed, and the same afternoon sent word around the bay 
 to the residents who had shown interest in the affair, that tlie ba}' 
 was to be examined. I wrote to the attorneys of those appearing 
 by counsel and passed the word amongst the sloops. In short, we 
 invited all we could find to be present during the examination. 
 
 The next morning we set out in the whaleboat and dredged 
 toward the fleet of sloops. My idea in regard to such investiga- 
 tions is that men who devote their lives to dredging can make 
 more trustworthy haids than amateurs, and moreover a " natural 
 growther," being anxious to have the limits of a natural growth 
 bed made ample would undoubtedly do his best in dredging ; yet 
 he could not show more than there was ; while a man interested 
 on the other side might be prejudiced to such an extent as to cover 
 up something. As soon as we arrived among the sloops, I got 
 some to luff up while I asked if I could get a passage for the day. 
 The first one could not be spared ; but the " Osprey " was put at 
 our disposal for all this day and the next ; and the owners, Messrs. 
 Fred, and Henry Glasier did everything in their power to help us- 
 I feel much indebted to Messrs. Glasier for their kindness ; and 
 would say that I liave the highest opinion of their wish to be 
 square in their dealings. 
 
 As we entered the bay I counted six sloops at work in the deep 
 water and thirty-one skiffs in the different shoal parts of tlie bay. 
 It was a busy scene. 
 
 I was informed that this was an unusally large number and that 
 these men had all congregated to give me a wrong impression. 
 But this has been refuted by others ; and my own observations 
 obtained during several visits in the summer, have led me to 
 believe that my informer was mistaken. The "Osprej^" took me 
 to all parts of the bay I wanted to visit and gave me over a hundred 
 dredgings. The result was an exhaustive examination. 
 
 From time to time during the two days we dredged here we had 
 many visitors representing the different factions and listened care- 
 fully to all they had to say. The disposition of this bay has 
 brought to light some interesting and curious features. For 
 instance, several have made efforts to get franchises for large por- 
 tions, say one man to get a fifth or fourth of the whole bay. 
 Others have put in claims for small portions. Some are willing to 
 SAvear the whole bay is a natural bed and others say it is not. 
 
24 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 One staked in about a fifth of tlie bay and some one else came 
 along and staked liim in and moi'e too. 
 
 Thus it has been that the question was not one to be decided 
 upon at a glance, but only upon careful examination and mature 
 deliberation. The dredge will show better than anything else 
 whether the oysters " exist in paying qua^ntities," but in cases 
 where a natural growth bed has been planted, it is often hard to 
 tell where the " planting " stopped ; and in such cases evidence 
 from interested parties is very admissible. "When this occurs it is 
 generally claimed that the places planted were grounds upon which 
 the natural bed had been depleted and upon which no one could 
 make a living. 
 
 There is a statute law which declares that the territory in Little 
 Neck bay from low- water mark to a line running parallel to it 500 
 feet off shore shall be called natural growth and shall not be con- 
 sidered available for planting purposes. This leaves very little of 
 the bay that can be considered available, and of what remains the 
 bottom is very soft and will probably require special preparation 
 before the seed is deposited upon it. 
 
 The general character of the oysters to be found in the bay 
 extends from seed to those unusally large. The term " saddle 
 rock" is now applied to very large oysters generally; but very few 
 of those we get in restaurants under this name have ever had the 
 honor of having the famous rock as a neighbor ; but the ." saddle 
 rocks " are not all gone ; and in this bay may be found to-day 
 many of this proud family. Then, too, there are often clusters of 
 from five to twenty of these large fellows. 
 
 The set during the past year has not been very fine and the evi- 
 dence points to a not far distant time when this bay will be seriously 
 the worse for wear. 
 
 Advance notice was given to all interested in the sul^ject, and a 
 meeting was held on November fifteenth, upon which occasion 
 every one was invited to give his reasons for objecting to the pro- 
 posed ruling, if he had any. 
 
 Several spoke for and against it, and one old man in particular 
 objected very strongly to the report of the engineer. He said he 
 had been working in that bay continually for the past thirty years 
 and thought his evidence should be given proper weight. Upon 
 being asked for his opinion as to the limits of the natural growth, 
 he gave, after his own fashion, a very detailed account of it, and 
 
AND Shell-Fish Commission. 25 
 
 wlien he had concluded was very much surprised to learn he had 
 corroborated in almost every particular the engineer's report, 
 which, by-the-way, he had never seen. 
 
 Out of courtesy to some of the residents, you directed me to 
 make another examination of a portion of the bay, claimed to be 
 not natural growth. I followed out your instruction to the letter, 
 though it was blowing from a moderate to a fresh gale and the 
 boats had ice in them. 
 
 The last examination checked the former one very nicely, and 
 gave the planters the benefit of about fifteen acres more out of 
 1,500 acres in the whole bay. Another meeting was held, and 
 those present expressed themselves satisfied with the decision of 
 the Shell-Fish Commission. 
 
 The northern limit of the bed is a line connecting the outer end 
 of the government wharf at Willet's Point with the outer end of 
 the Clay dock on Great Neck. All to the southward of this is 
 natural growth, except a 750 meter square, having for its northern 
 boundary the parallel N. 40'^ -47', and for its western boundary 
 the meridian W. 73^-46', and not included between low-water line 
 and a line 500 feet off shore from it. 
 
 It is unfortunate for the oystermen in this bay that the sandbank 
 in the southern portion is being so extensively worked. The water 
 throughout the bay is so shoal that the scows in being towed in 
 and out stir up a great deal of mud. Even without this, there are 
 times when the water in the southern part of the bay resembles 
 the Juniper water in the Dismal Swamp of Virginia. 
 
 Smithtown Bay. 
 
 During the summer of 1886 Smithtown bay was examined for 
 natural growth. One spot was found upon which were a large 
 number of oysters. They were buoyed in and gave evidence of 
 planting ; but while we were examining it the feed pipe of the 
 boiler burst, and we had to run to New York for repairs. In 
 the meantime it was put down as natural growth. 
 
 During the past summer I made a thorough examination of it, 
 running lines of dredging back and forth over all the questionable 
 ground. The only j^laces from which we got satisfactory hauls 
 were where the ground had been strewn with scollop shells, gravel, 
 deckers, etc. To these the oysters had clung, and a great many 
 large single oysters were found clinging to small pebbles. There 
 4 
 
26 Rep OUT of Oyster Investigation 
 
 was no doubt about tlie fact that the ground designated as natural 
 last year was a planted bed, and well planted at that. The ques- 
 tion then arose as to whether there had ever been natural growth 
 there, and if there had been, whether the planting was done only 
 after it had been thoroughly depleted and abandtmed. 
 
 A time of hearing was apppointed for November twenty-second, 
 at which time no one appeared to advocate the natural growth side 
 of the question. The only evidence for that side being an affidavit, 
 brought some weeks before by a man who was either afraid or 
 ashamed to put his own name to it, but who spoke against the 
 planters, at the same time declaring he did not wish his friends of 
 the other side to know he was appearing against them. The 
 planters presenting the testimony of the most respectable men in 
 the community, and the decisions of a court a few years ago, that 
 the land was not natural growth, the Shell-Fish Gotnmissioner 
 decided that the bay was open to cultivation. 
 
 The Pines Bed. 
 
 I have developed during the summer a small natural growth bed 
 on the hard bottom which skirts the shore i]i the bight, between 
 Oak Neck Point and Center Island reef, just off the " Pine trees " 
 from which it derives its name. It has not been well-known or 
 generally worked, but it contains a few very fine oysters, though 
 not in very paying quantities this year. There is probably no bed 
 in the State which varies more from period to period than this bed. 
 
 Natural Growth Beds. 
 
 The following circular was sent to all the principal newspapers on 
 Long Island, with request to publish it. It was also sent to 
 different supervisors and other prominent men with accompanying 
 letters asking them to place it where it would do the most good : 
 
 Notice to Oystekmen. 
 
 In pursuance with chapter 584 of the Laws of 1887, I am caus- 
 ing the natural growth beds of Oysters of this State to be surveyed 
 and delineated. 
 
 The law reads : * * * " He shall finish and complete the 
 survey now being made of all the beds of oysters of natural growth 
 located in the waters of the State ; and such beds of oysters of 
 natural growth shall lie set aj^art and preserved, and shall not be 
 deemed to be included in the lands for which franchises are to be 
 sold under the provisions of this act," etc. 
 
AND Shell-Fish CoM3nssioN. 21" 
 
 These natural beds are to be " set apart and preserved," so tliat 
 anybody can go and tong or dredge upon tliem, but so tliat nobody 
 can stake tliem up and keep every one else off. I would be glad 
 to receive notice from those interested of the existence of any bed 
 or beds known to them in the waters of the State, which are of 
 natural growth. 
 
 On the back of this sheet is a map on small scale showing natu- 
 ral growth beds already surveyed. 
 
 Very respectfully. 
 
 EUGENE G. BLACKFOED, 
 
 Shell-Fish Commissioner. 
 
 The information given in the replies was very valuable and inter- 
 esting, and resulted in the development of one more small natural 
 growth bed ; but its greatest value was in showing that we had 
 already made a most thorough examination. 
 
 As it stands now, all the known natural growth beds under jurisdic- 
 tion of the State have now been surveyed and are being finally map- 
 ped. During the past summer you personally inspected a number of 
 them, and of these I will not treat except in a general way. 
 
 The Execution bed is still furnishing large quantities of seed and 
 large oysters ; but the refuse material upon it acciimulated during 
 the past years is simply shameful. I realize more and more that 
 had you not caused the dumping of garbage to be stopped here, 
 through the watchfulness of Mr. Joseph W. Mersereau, the State 
 oyster protector, all the shell-fish would have been absolutely 
 smothered. 
 
 As regards the Hempstead bed, the north-west portion seems to 
 have been the most popular part this summer ; and here I have 
 seen, time and time again, a regular cloud of canvas belonging to 
 oystermen. . The oyster fleet is a pretty one and can easily be mis- 
 taken for a fleet of yachts ; which I have done several times. The 
 boats are not fine in the sense used by yachtsmen ; but they are 
 in the eyes of a man who follows the sea. 
 
 The models are splendid ; the sails fit perfectly, and the handling 
 of them by their skippers is beyond comparison. These men are 
 born sailors, know every quality of their boats and use them to 
 their best advantage. An oysterman can give you more " touch 
 and go" points than almost any other sailor. I have seen them 
 cross our bow, they on port tack and we on starboard, both close 
 
28 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 hauled, so close that their dinghy would come under our head 
 booms. 
 
 One of these oyster sloops had a race with the celebrated cutter 
 " Bedouin," and beat her in a good breeze. They go fast and work 
 like witches ; and they are kept scrupulously clean and tidy. A 
 sailor proud of his profession should feel complimented if called 
 an oysterman. 
 
 In regard to Little Neck bay and the swash bed off Hoffman 
 Island, I think they have been heavily worked also. 
 
 All these beds I have mentioned, in fact, are having too heavy a 
 load to carry ; and they will break down, so to speak, if something 
 is not done to help them. 
 
 Oyster Ground. 
 
 The land under water to the northward of Whitestoue is gener- 
 ally hard ; and the water over it averages about six or seven 
 fathoms, except along Westchester county shores, where the bottom 
 is softer and the water not so deep. A little eastward, and between 
 Willet's Point, and Throg's Neck, the water deepens to from .ten 
 to twenty fathoms. None of this is. very good oyster ground, 
 except close along the shores ; owing to the immense amount of 
 ocean traffic that passes through at this point. 
 
 To the eastward of Throg's Neck, however, and between there 
 and the limits of the natural growth beds of Little Neck bay and 
 Elm Point, there is a good deal of land that might be taken up. 
 The bottom is generally soft, though not too soft for cultivation. 
 The depth of water varies from an average of four and a half 
 fathoms in the eastern part of the bight, to about nine fathoms in 
 the western. To the northward and eastward of Stepping Stone 
 light, the water is generally deep and the bottom soft. This is 
 also a highway for passing craft. 
 
 To the westward of Barker's Point, and just outside of Manhasset 
 bay is a plot of ground having the greatest depth of seven fathoms ; 
 which is a little out of the track of traffic, owing to the jDosition of 
 the shoal extending out to luioy twenty-three, known as the Gang- 
 way Rock buoy. 
 
 In tlie bight just to the westward of Sands Point, and to the 
 south-eastward of the steamer track, are lands well suited for cul- 
 tivation, and having a depth of from three to six fathoms of water. 
 The water to the northward of Sands Point is rather deep for 
 
AND 811ELL-F1SH Commission. 29 
 
 planting except close along shore, and between Prospect Point and 
 Sands Point ont to aboiit three-quarters of a mile. 
 
 The ground immediately off Hempstead harbor of course is not 
 available for planting, owing to the natural growth beds there ; 
 but to the northward of Matinicock Point the greatest dej^th of 
 water is nine and a half fathoms all the way across the sound. 
 The turning point of the boundary line between New York and 
 Connecticut is almost due north of Peacock Point. The water 
 between has an average depth of from seven to eight fathoms. 
 
 The land included between the meridians which pass through 
 Peacock Point and Oak Neck Point is very well adapted. The 
 eighteen foot curve here is about half a mile from high-water 
 mark. From there to the seven fathom curve is nearly half a 
 mile more. Beyond this the depth varies to nine and a half 
 fathoms. Most of the bottom is soft, but not very soft. 
 
 In the bight between Oak Neck Point and the end of Center Island 
 reef, all the ground except that indicated as the Pines Bed is avail- 
 able for planting. The average depth is from four to five fathoms. 
 From this line out to the State line, the water gradually increases 
 in depth to ten and a half fathoms ; but very little of it is deeper 
 than eight fathoms. There is some hard bottom off Center Island 
 Point, but it is very rocky ; and it is an open question as to whether 
 much could be cultivated to advantage. 
 
 Between the end of Center Island reef and Lloyd's Point, the 
 general depth of water is from four to seven fathoms ; but there 
 are a few holes with a depth of from ten to eleven fathoms. These 
 however, are well in the southern part of the bight. 
 
 The ground directly to the north of Center Island reef is com- 
 posed generally of soft bottom ; and varies from five to eleven 
 fathoms out to the State line. The tide runs here about three- 
 quarters of a mile an hour. 
 
 The ground included between the meridians passing though the 
 end of Center Island reef and of Lloyd's Point, the line adjoining 
 these two points, and the State line, is generally soft bottom with 
 a depth of from eight to nine fathoms in the southern portion, and 
 increases to from eleven to thirteen in the northern portion. 
 
 The Lloyd's Neck bed is on the meridian passing through 
 Lloyd's Point. The shoals off Lloyd's Neck extend on an average 
 half a mile off shore. A good deal of the bottom is hard for about 
 
go Report of Oyster IN'VESTIGATlo^' 
 
 two miles oft' shore. Beyond this out to the State line it is soft. 
 The land oft" Lloyd's Neck is particularly valuable. 
 
 To the northward of the Huntington bay limit line, and out to 
 about one and a half miles, the average depth is from five to seven 
 fathoms. Beyond this it increases to sixteen fathoms near the 
 State line. Between Eaton's Point and the Eaton's Neck bed 
 there is a long shoal extending, and between the shoal and the bed 
 the depth is from three and a half to seven fa,thoms ; the bottom is 
 hard in many places and pretty vv'ell covered with rocks. To the 
 northward of Eaton's Neck bed the water runs to a depth of 
 twenty fathoms, and the changes in depth in this vicinity are quite 
 rapid and wide. The current attains a velocity of one and one- 
 half miles per hour. In the bight to the eastward of Eaton's Neck 
 and west of a meridian through the first lowland to the eastward 
 of East Beach, the character of the ground is quite varied. Fol- 
 lowing the shore from Eaton's Point to the end of East Beach the 
 five-fathom curve is found to h& about three-fourths of a mile off 
 shore. The southern portion of this lught is generally soft while 
 the north-western part is hard. On this hard bottom, however, the 
 star-fish seem to thrive particularly well, as a great many of the 
 oystermen in this vicinity have found to their sorrow. Between 
 the three-quarter-mile curve, the State line and the above-men- 
 tioned meridians, the depth of water gradually increases to fifteen 
 fathoms at the northern limit, with one deep hole of sixteen fathoms 
 near the middle. The bottom is generally soft but very good. 
 
 The shoals from here on to Nissequague river extends auj^where 
 from half to one mile oft" shore. They are generally composed of 
 hard sand, with a few scattered rocks, and are not adapted for 
 cultivation for the reason that the heavy seas in winter rolling in 
 upon them with accumulated force break with great violence and 
 create such a commotion that the sand on the bottom is stirred up 
 and shifts its position. If oysters were planted on this ground the 
 probabilities are that during the first winter season they would be 
 smothered by sand. A little ways beyond these shoals, however, 
 and off shore, there are fine lands. 
 
 Off Crab Meadow the bottom is generally soft and the depth of 
 water runs from seven to sixteen fathoms at the State line. Most 
 of it, however, is within the ten-fathom curve. Oft' Kidd's Money 
 Hole and l)eyoud the shoals there is a good deal of hard bottom in 
 from five to eiu'ht fathoms. 
 
AND Shell-Fish C'omihssion. 31 
 
 Further off shore the bottom is soft and the depth increases to 
 nineteen f atlioms near the State line ; but it is within eleven fathoms 
 most of the way out. The shore of Smithtown bay is bounded 
 by shoals out to from five-eighths to seven-eighths of a mile. These 
 shoals are composed of hard sand, and are covered in many places 
 with small and large size rock. 
 
 The bottom of this bay is generally soft, though not very soft, 
 and the general average of depth is eight fathoms. The nine- 
 fathom curve will run nearly west from Crane Neck Point. From 
 this line to the State line, the bottom is nearly all soft, and has a 
 varied depth of from nine to nineteen fathoms. 
 
 The grounds to the northward of the bight between Crane 
 Neck and Old Field points are generally hard for three-fourths of 
 a mile ; and the greatest depth is eight fathoms. Beyond this it is 
 generally soft, and has a variable depth of from ten to twenty 
 fathoms. Between Old Field Point and Mt. Misery Shoal there is 
 a variable depth of from three and one-half to eight fathoms of 
 water. It is generally soft and in the portion of Old Field Point 
 there are a good many rocks. To the northward of this the water 
 is very deep until one reaches the vicinity of Stratford shoal to 
 the southward of which there is some soft and sandy bottom with 
 the least water of about seven fathoms. Between the meridian pass- 
 ing through the entrance to Port Jefferson harbor and the one 
 through Miller's Landing the character of the bottom is varied. 
 Most of it is soft and composed of brown and black mud mixed with 
 sand. The current here attains a velocity of two miles an hour. 
 The average depth off shore is about fifteen to twenty fathoms. 
 The ten-fathom curve is about one and one-half miles off shore. 
 Along the shore to the eastward of this as far as Hallock's Landing, 
 the shoals extend one and one-half miles out ; and it is not very 
 good for planting on account of the tendency of the bottom 
 to shift. 
 
 A little to the northward of the shoals, there is a patch ot hard 
 bottom in from three to eight fathoms of water. This extends 
 about a mile further oiit. From there to the State line the bottom 
 is generally soft and the depth varies up to twenty-two fathoms. 
 
 Between Hallock's Landing and the mouth of Wading river the 
 shoals do not extend more than three-fourths of a mile; and 
 beyond them there are several strips of hard bottom in from five 
 to eight fathoms of water extending about a mile. Beyond these 
 
32 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 tlie water is very deep, running from ten to twenty-two fatlioms witli 
 a general average of about twenty fathoms. 
 
 Tlie Herod's Point shoal extends two miles off shore ; and, 
 although the bottom is hard, is not very good for o3'-ster planting. 
 Beyond this the water deepens rapidly, and has an average depth 
 of nineteen fathoms. The current retains a velocit}" of nearly two 
 miles an hour close to the end of the shoal. 
 
 There is a bight between Herod's Point shoal and Koanoke 
 Point shoal, in which there is a good deal of hard bottom, and the 
 depth is not over twelve fathoms. A good deal of it is in less than 
 eight fathoms. This is in the western portion of the bight. To 
 the northward of the line between the buoys on these respective 
 shoals the water deepens rapidly to from fourteen to twenty-three 
 fathoms, with a general average of about eighteen fatlioms. 
 
 The shoal off Roanoke Point extends one and three-quarters 
 miles from shore. The ])ottom beyond is generally soft, and aver- 
 ages sixteen fathoms. Just off* Old Landing, and to the north-east- 
 ward of Roanoke Point, there is some hard bottom in about four 
 fathoms of water. This extends about one and a half miles off 
 shore. 
 
 The shoal off Jacob's Point extends about one mile off shore. 
 The water deepens rM]3idly, with a general average of thirteen 
 fathoms. Almost due north of Jacob's Point, a distance of six and 
 a half miles, there is a patch of hard bottom in fourteen fathoms 
 of water. Off Jacol:)'s hills the shoals do not extend very far, and 
 the depth of water for about two and a half miles does not exceed 
 nine fathoms. Most of the bottom is muddy, but some of it is 
 black sand. Beyond this, and out to State line, the average depth 
 is about thirteen fathoms. The bottom is composed of brown sand 
 in some places, fine gray sand in others, and out near the State 
 line hard sand in about fourteen fathoms of water. 
 
 Between Jacob's hills, Duck Pond Point and the lines parallel 
 to these points, distant one and a half miles, the depth of water 
 does not exceed nine fathoms. Close in to shore it is from four 
 and a half to seven fathoms. A good deal of it is hard, most of it 
 being composed of sand and l^roken shells. Due north of this last 
 line the l)()ttom is ([uite level, and the depth averages about thir- 
 teen fathoms. The bottom is nearly all hard. 
 
 The shoals between Duck Pond Point and Horton's Point extend 
 one mile off shore, after which the depth increases rapidly to 
 
AND Shell-Fish Commission. '^'^ 
 
 thirteen fathoms, and then gradually to twenty-four fathoms ; then 
 slowly dnninishes to twelve fathoms near the State line. 
 
 Between Horton's Point and Inlet Point there is a good deal of 
 hard bottom, with an average depth of from eight to ten fathoms. 
 The hard bottom extends off shore about two and three-quarters 
 miles, and is bounded by the fourteeu-fathom curve. The depth 
 of water beyond this is as great as twenty-eight fathoms in some 
 places. 
 
 The six-mile reef which has least depth of three and one-quarter 
 fathoms is mostly within the Connecticut waters ; but a small por- 
 tion of the eastern corner extends into our waters and has hard 
 bottom. The currents along here are very strong and it would 
 require a very heavy dredge to work successfully. 
 
 Between Inlet Point and Rocky Point there is a narrow strip of 
 hard bottom in shoal water, but extends very little past the line 
 joining these two points. Beyond this the water deepens rapidly 
 and the current is very strong. 
 
 Between Kocky Point and Terry's Point and to the southward of 
 Orient shoal, there is a bight of hard bottom with an average depth 
 of four fathoms ; but with the exception of that part close in shore, 
 the current is very swift. 
 
 Just to the northward of Orient shoal the bottom is composed 
 of hard sand and the general depth is about eleven fathoms. 
 Between Terry's Point and Mulford's Point there is a little of shoal 
 water, extending from a short distance off shore about a quarter of 
 a mile. The current here is very swift. All to the northward of 
 this the bottom is very deep and the current very swift. 
 
 Between Mulford's Point and Plum Gut the water is deep even 
 close in shore. Some places here have a depth of thirty-nine 
 fathoms. The only exception to this is close in shore at Petty's 
 bight where there is some land with five fathoms of water over it. 
 
 The most available lands for planting are off Little Neck bay, to 
 the northward of Oak Neck, and in the bight to the eastward of 
 Oak Neck Point, at the mouth, of Oyster bay, particularly to the 
 north-westward of the mouthof Huntington bay, off Kidd's Money 
 Hole and in Smithtown bay. 
 
 There are some splendid gravel beds on the shores of the sound 
 which would furnish very large quantities of cultch. The best ones 
 are to be found just to the eastward of Crane Neck and around Old 
 Field Point, off Mattituck hills and about Rocky Point. 
 5 
 
34 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 The results from tiu used as cultcli have not beeu successfuL 
 In the Chesapeake bay, small trees with the branches and twigs 
 left upon them have been found very servicable for catching the set. 
 
 The ice in Long Island sound would prevent, to a great extent, 
 their use in the same way as in southern waters. Nevertheless, a 
 modification of this ]-)lan would be, in m}' estimation, of value. 
 We all know that the young oysters or fry, do not float near the 
 bottom alone, but tlrroughout intermediate depth* also. 
 
 Experiment has proved that tiles suspended in the water are 
 covered on the under side as well as on the upper. 
 
 The cultch now used serves only as a collector for the strata at 
 the bottom. If we had some cheap method of having collectors 
 for other strata, a much larger set would result. 
 
 Now, if a lot of dead bushes were weighted with stone and hove 
 overboard, they would present a very large surface for very little 
 cost. 
 
 I have noticed that the oystermen are sometimes late in prepar- 
 ing their grounds for the set, and then think the season has not 
 Ijeen a good one. I would advise them to rake their grounds 
 thoroughly during the very first part of the spawning season, and 
 not delay it. I have in mind some cultivators who did not com- 
 mence to rake their grounds until the middle of August last year, 
 and found themselves too late, while some of their neighbors, who 
 commenced the first part of July, had magnificent sets. 
 
 There are a good many oysters to be found just inside the 
 mouths of such rivers as the Nissequagua, Stony brook, etc., 
 which are not suitaljle for table use. They are long, tliin, and 
 generally found in thick clusters. They are called by some "Rac- 
 coon oysters," and have often been considered valueless. But 
 they make splendid spawners. 
 
 If a man is shelling a piece of ground and decides to put some 
 full-grown oysters amongst them for the purpose of securing a fair 
 amount of spawn, he can not do better than use these compara- 
 tively valueless clusters of "Baccoon oysters." Besides giving 
 forth a good deal of spawn, they form a barricade for the inner 
 layers against the star-fish. The stars can not reach the ones in 
 the center, and even if tliose outside are eaten up, the other ones 
 will carry on operations in defiance of all enemies. 
 
 Mr. N. I. Qvigstad has acted as recorder and first mate. It is 
 hardly necessary for me to reiterate what I have already said as 
 
AND ShblE-Fisji Commission. 35 
 
 to liis attention to duty and interest in the work. He has learned 
 the use of the sextant and has given me valuable aid in this way. 
 He deserves credit for the neatness and cleanliness of the vessel 
 during the summer, for his sketches, which will add largely to the 
 completeness of the records, and for his general usefulness to the 
 survey. 
 
 I wish to express my thanks for the many ways in which I have 
 been assisted by Mr. Archibald Young, Jr., and Dr. J. E. DeMund, 
 of Bath Beach. These gentlemen went along with me last sum- 
 mer, and helped me in my work, purely out of good nature. 
 
 I hope that Mr. Edward Thompson and Mr. John Arthur, of 
 Northport ; Judge J. Lawrence Smith and Mr. Darling, of Smith- 
 town ; Dr. O. L. Jones, of New York ; Mr Godfrey, Port Eaton, 
 and Messrs. Charles H. and Alexander Bell, of Bayside, will 
 accept my thanks for their many courtesies. 
 
 We are indebted to Mr. Glasier, of City Island, for the specimens 
 of set, of which the accompanying photograph is an example. 
 These set came from deep water where the oysters do not grow as 
 rapidly as in shoaler places. 
 
 The following is a statement of expenditures of the engineer's 
 department for the year ending November 30, 1887 : 
 
 Salary of engineer and pay of crew $3 , 698 04 
 
 Maps, drawing material, printing, etc 502 16 
 
 Field expenses 645 23 
 
 Office expenses " 357 82 
 
 Miscellaneous 114 60 
 
 Total $5,317 85 
 
 I wish to close my remarks with expressions of my appreciation 
 of the wa^^ in which you have facilitated my work. 
 
 I know that your deep interest in the subject, and the trouble 
 you have taken already would naturally cause you to wish for suc- 
 cess, but the time and pains you have spent upon it, not to speak 
 of the hundreds of dollars you advanced to carry on the work at 
 a time when their return by the State seemed doubtful, have put 
 such spirit into my department that I can not but feel grateful. 
 
 Very respectfully. 
 
 W. G. FORD, Je., 
 
 B7igineer. 
 
Report of J, W. Mersereaii, State Oyster Protector. 
 
 No. 80 Fulton Market, | 
 
 New York City, November 30, 1887. j 
 
 Eugene G. Blackford, Esq., Commissioner of Fisheries in charge 
 of Oyster Investigation, New York : 
 
 Dear Sir. — I liave the lionor to transmit herewith the report of 
 the State oyster protector for the year ending November 80, 1887. 
 
 Very respectfully. 
 
 JOS. W. MERSEKEAU, 
 
 State Oijster Protector. 
 
 No. 80 Fulton Market, \ 
 
 New York City, Novemher 30, 1887. j 
 Eugene G. Blackford, Esq., Commissioner of Flslieries in. charge 
 of Oyster Investigation: 
 
 Dear Sir. — I respectfully submit the following report of my 
 operations as State oyster protector for the year ending Novem- 
 ber 30, 1887. 
 
 Since my last report, in accordance with your directions, I have 
 reported daily at this office except on the dates hereinafter men- 
 tioned, viz. : December 25, 1886, January 1, 1887, February 8, 1887, 
 July 1, 1887, and November 8, 1887. 
 
 I have been on duty only part of a day on the dates hereinafter 
 mentioned, viz. : January 18 and 19, 1887, February 22, 1887, May 
 30 and 31, 1887, and November 21, 1887. On all other days from 
 November 30, 1886, to November 30, 1887, inclusive (except Sun- 
 days), I have been on dut}^ all day subject to your instructions. 
 
 I have conferred with you in respect to the execution of the 
 various duties appertaining to this office, and have acted in accord- 
 ance with your directions. 
 
 I have frequently visited and examined various localities, espe- 
 cially manufacturing districts, and those points from which the pol- 
 
Oyster Investigation and Shell-Fish Commission. 37 
 
 lution of the waters might be expected. In making inspections, I 
 have used steam tugs or such other method of travel as would best 
 serve my purpose to reach the desired locality. 
 
 The particular time of the tide, hour of the day, and time of the 
 week, being selected as would be most advantageous to detect the 
 emission of deleterious matter from the respective establishments, 
 and best evade the lynx-eyed watchmen at the several points, part 
 of whose duty seemed to be to observe my arrival and movements. 
 I therefore visited suspected points at irregular intervals, some- 
 times twice a day, or several days in succession. I would then 
 inspect a distant point without notice to the j)arties as to my 
 intended visit. In this way I endeavored to render the emission 
 of refuse, hazardous, and found the scheme worked well. 
 
 I am pleased to report that during the year past there has not 
 been a repetition of the offense of dumping garbage in the vicinity 
 of the oyster beds in Long Island sound. The salutary effect of 
 the successful prosecutions of this class of offenders in the courts 
 of Westchester county, has given a quietus to the indiscriminate 
 dumping of garbage upon oyster territory in that section, 
 
 I am pleased to state that our efforts in above matter were 
 efficiently supported by District Attorney Nelson H. Baker and 
 other officials of Westchester county. I have written to District 
 Attorney George Gallagher, of Richmond county, as to the status 
 of the three (3) cases (indictments of oil refiners) in said county, 
 and he reports the cases to be yet pending. 
 
 In justice to the indicted parties I must say that since the indict- 
 ments were obtained there has been an earnest effort upon the part 
 of oil refiners and other kindred manufacturers, Avhose works are 
 located on the shores of the Kill von KuU and Staten Island sound, 
 to reduce the volume of obnoxious effluents from their respective 
 establishments to a minimum, by perfecting the methods of arrest- 
 ing the outflow of refuse by the construction of new and additional 
 safeguards, as hereinafter particularly mentioned." 
 
 The following extracts are from the report, in 1886, of Walter H. 
 Kent, Ph. D., chemist, to Andrew Otterson, M. D., commissioner of 
 the department of health of the city of Brooklyn, relative to the 
 emission of sludge acid into Newtown creek, and which is perti- 
 nent to other localities : 
 
 " As bearing on the subject in hand, a word on the method of 
 oil refining, with regard to the origin and nature of sludge acid and 
 other refuse, may not be out of place. 
 
;:J8 Repout of Oyster iNVESTrciATiON' 
 
 " Tlie method of oil refining is in tlie main a process of fractional 
 distillation, and tlie portion distilled off between such and such 
 temperatures are in turn discharged into the tanks provided for 
 naphtha, gasoline, kerosene, etc. In the retorts there remains a 
 tarry substance containing the paraffine, which is finally withdrawn 
 and either sent to the parafhne works or mixed with coal dust and 
 burned as fuel for heating the retorts. The kerosene, as it comes 
 from the stills, needs further treatment to deprive it of its dark 
 color and of the adhering volatile substances which tend to make 
 it dangerous to burn. To deprive it of its dark color it is mixed 
 in the ' agitator ' with concentrated sulphuric acid 66 B. (sp. gr. 
 1.84) and thoroughly agitated by forcing air into the mixture. The 
 strong acid has the property of taking from the kerosene the color- 
 ing or tarry matter, which, with the acid, forms a black, heavy 
 liquid, known as sludge acid. It readily separates from the lighter 
 kerosene, and is run off into tanks where the small amount of 
 adhering kerosene further separates, after which it is transferred 
 to the storage tanks. This waste acid has some peculiar proper- 
 ties. The tarry and carbonaceous matters held in solution very soon 
 act as reducing agents on the sulphuric acid, forming sulphurous 
 acid by a reaction like the following : 
 
 " Ho S O4 + tarry substance = S O^ + H. O (from the H^ S O4) 
 -j- H.2 O and possibly C O (from the oxidation of carbonaceous 
 matter). Very naturally the extent of this action varies with the 
 temperature. In winter it is claimed to be slight, while in summer 
 it becomes very offensive, undergoing, as the workmen improperly 
 term it ' a process of fermentation ; ' but which is only an ordi- 
 nary case of reduction. The suffocating and irritating gas of 
 sulphurous acid is the gas which gives to burning sulphur its 
 characteristic odor. If mixed with a small amount of water of 
 steam, the heat engendered by the action of the water on the sul- 
 phuric acid assists in the action of reduction. 
 
 " When discharged into water, the sulphuric, acid so far as it 
 comes in contact with the water, is taken up and, of course, forms 
 a clear solution, while the tar, with the large amount of acid it 
 contains, forms a semi-solid mass which mostly falls to the bottom. 
 The tar is insoluble in water and when thoroughly freed from acid 
 forms a wax-like, nearly solid mass. 
 
 "The sulphurous acid is also dissolved or absorbed by the water. 
 After withdrawing the last portion of sludge acid from the agitator, 
 
AND (SiiELL-Fisn Commission. '?,{) 
 
 the kerosene is freed from acid so far as possible by washing with 
 large quantities of water ; then to secure the removal from the oil 
 of the last traces of acid, it is agitated with a relatively small 
 amount of caustic soda and further washed. 
 
 " The amount of acid the wash-water contains depends on the 
 care with which the last portion of sludge acid is withdrawn ; but 
 by the present method of working a small amount of acid here 
 finds its way into the creek. 
 
 " The question of removing this acid by neutralizing in some 
 properly constructed tank needs, I think, further attention. The 
 wash-water is freed from the small amount of oil it contains by 
 allowing it to pass a sj^stem of ' traps ' or tanks (see second annual 
 report of the State Board of Health, page 387), where the oil is 
 retained, and from which the wash-water is discharged into the 
 creek. 
 
 " Here is the general source of the oil which is often found on 
 the creek. I have obtained samples of the wash-water as it was being 
 discharged into the creek, and generally find that on standing in 
 the laboratory more or less rises to the surface. The efi'ect of oil 
 on the creek is to increase the danger of fire, to kill the grass on 
 the shores, and to give the shores a dark greasy appearance. It is 
 also said that the oakum calking in boats plying on the creek very 
 soon degenerates so as to cause a leaking. This is readily under- 
 stood from the action of the oil. Oil is a solvent for tar, and as 
 oakum is finely divided tarred rope, the tar is removed by the oil 
 and the structure of the oakum is thereby weakened. 
 
 " It having been asserted on the strength of a supposition that 
 the waste acid has run into the creek by underground pipes which 
 terminate and discharge somewhere in the bottom of the water, it 
 was very soon concluded that any amount of insjjection by watch- 
 ing along the creek would probably be entirely futile in discovering 
 any offense under cover of such ingenious schemes. It was evi- 
 dent that if I could ascertain the amount of fresh sulphuric acid 
 used for a given time, and obtain a statement of the amount of 
 sludge acid sent to sea or elsewhere for the same period of time, 
 I would be able to calculate the relation between such amounts 
 and ascertain, approximately at least, whether the fresh acid used 
 was accounted for in the amount of sludge acid disposed of. Hence 
 I concluded to extend my efforts in this direction to find what 
 facilities the refineries had for storing and disposing of the sludge 
 
40 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 acid, aud to do what I could by sncli facts as could be obtained by 
 open inspection. 
 
 " Sucli a method wonld lead to results expressed in figures 
 which might indicate whether the acid used was delivered to the 
 boat in the form of sludge acid. That this method involved cer- 
 tain possible eijors was readily seen, but it seemed to form a basis 
 for a procedure from which there might be hopes of eliminating 
 the errors to such an extent as to give satisfactory results. 
 
 " During this investigation, involving as it has many inspections, 
 I was led to think from the uniform courtesy which I received, the 
 fairness on the part of those whom I met, the facilities at hand for 
 the disposal of the sludge acid and the apparent thoroughness of 
 the work, that there was not ground for serious complaint ; and it 
 was not until the results in the above table were obtained that 
 unsatisfactory indications were shown. The elaborate table of 
 statistics above referred to is not here introduced, but suffice 
 it to say that from the various refineries therein enumerated only 
 the following respective percentage was accounted for, viz. : 93.8, 
 69.5, 71.5, 842, 74.3, 78.0, 92.5 and 96.5. 
 
 " In seeking an explanation for these low results among the com- 
 panies concerned, it was ascertained that some have been using the 
 sludge acid for fuel. To do this the acid is partly freed with water 
 and the resulting tar mixed with coal dust and burned under the 
 retorts. The acid, freed by the means of the water, finds its way 
 sooner or later into the creek. 
 
 " In a subsequent report Mr. Kent says : " Since my former 
 report I have again inspected those refineries located on Newtown 
 creek. Their condition is ap23arently the same as represented in 
 my previous report ; and as there shown, there is a large percent- 
 age of acid still unaccounted for. Whether this will be found in 
 the wash-water from the agitators, or in the portion reduced and 
 vaporized, or disposed of in some way still unknown, further 
 inspection is necessary to show." 
 
 In addition to the system in vogue with oil refiners of trapping 
 the wash-water from the agitators (alluded to in the aforesaid 
 report of Mr. Kent), some refiners have constructed large tanks 
 into which the water from the agitators and condensers is pumped 
 aud allowed to rest, which quiet affords an opportunity for such 
 oil as may be mingled with soda wash-water to separate. This oil 
 is here collected and pumped back to be utilized. The remaining 
 
AN^D Shell-Fish Commission. 41 
 
 water is then cliscliarged into the elaborate system of "traps," and 
 an effort is here again made to arrest the outflow of such oily mat- 
 ter as may not have been caught by the previous process. The 
 " traps " are under the constant surveillance of operatives, who 
 either bail or pump off the accumulation of oil floating upon the 
 surface of each trap ; the water escaping, in the meantime, under- 
 neath. The earth is completely saturated with oily refuse at an 
 oil refining plant. A system of drainage has been found in some 
 instances to be efficacious in collecting such sepiage and oily mat- 
 ter, and conducting the same to a large well or receiver, which is 
 " trapped," and from which the oily matter is pumped away to be 
 utilized. 
 
 Suspicious outlets have been closed at my direction. Notwith- 
 standing the care taken to prevent the outflow of oily matter, 
 nevertheless certain localities would constantly show the presence 
 of oily refuse. Upon examination, it was believed to be due to 
 sepiage. At my request, blanketing has been resorted to, and the 
 refuse in this way collected from the slips and thus prevented from 
 escaping into the stream. 
 
 The refineries accumulate a vast amount of ashes and cinders 
 which they use for filling in purposes ; the refineries of this section 
 being located upon the banks of streams and in many instances 
 upon marshland, the cinders are utilized in filling in bulk-heads or 
 in raising the elevation of the grounds. The porosity of this fill- 
 ing allows the enormous quantity of oily refuse to percolate freely 
 and ultimately reach the banks of the stream, and pollute the water 
 of the vicinity ; if the refuse is not collected by blanketing at this 
 juncture, it being then subject only to the force and direction of 
 •the wind and current, it is carried far away on its evil errand. 
 
 Sludge acid and kindred refuse has been also, in many instances, 
 used for filling in purposes and being subjected to the varying 
 conditions of frost, heat and rain adds to the accretions of leaks 
 from the many underground pipes. All this accumulation of oily 
 matter naturally follows the underground currents, and is finally 
 emptied at the banks of the stream, and then appears upon the 
 surface of the open water. 
 
 The loss of oil from the leakage of underground pipes is a mat- 
 ter of serious importance, not only as to the ultimate pollution of 
 the stream as hereinbefore shown, but as a serious loss to the oil 
 refiners. Some of the refiners at Bayonne are taking up their 
 6 
 
42 Report of Otsteb Investtgatton 
 
 undergroiTiid pipes and intend to have all tlie oil pipes in their 
 yards above ground so that a leak can be easily observed and cor- 
 rected. This must, to some extent, tend to improve the condition 
 of the streams. 
 
 I have noticed that after lieav}^, drenching rains the river in the 
 vicinity of the oil refineries presents a revolting spectacle of oily 
 refuse washed from the oil j'^ards. It might not be easy to con- 
 vince the casual observer, but that the oil refiners had intentionally 
 discharged refuse into the stream. 
 
 The system of drainage hereinbefore indicated will operate as a 
 check to the outflow from the cause last mentioned. Frequent 
 ius]:)ections of the suspected localities have resulted in the aboli- 
 tion of the former practice of discharging sludge and hea\y refuse 
 into the stream in the vicinity of the refineries. 
 
 Some of the sludge acid is carried to sea by steamers specially 
 adapted for the purpose of receiving and discharging the 
 same. Some of the refiners manufacture a weak acid from the 
 sludge which they sell to manufacturers of fertilizers ; while some 
 refiners sell the sludge direct to the fertilizing companies. In 
 other instances as aforesaid it has been used for filling in about the 
 oil plants. The other residuum of heavy refuse, tar, etc., is used 
 by the parafline works, gas works, and to some extent for fueh 
 Thus the accumulation of refuse can be disposed of in various 
 ways without detriment to the public, and especially to the fish 
 and shell-fish industr}^ 
 
 Another prolific source of trouble is the pollution of the waters 
 which comes from the discharge of the contents of the " water bal- 
 last tanks " of the oil ships at the wharves, when about to receive 
 their cargo of oil at the refinery. 
 
 It has been the custom to load many large vessels with oil for 
 foreign markets. Much more oil is now carried in bulk in tanks 
 (instead of barrels or cans) than formerly. When these tank ves- 
 sels discharge their cargo abroad, it is customary to pump water 
 into certain lower tanks for ballast for th(^r return to this jjort. 
 When about to load these vessels at the refineries the water bal- 
 last (the contents of the tanks) and the bilge-water is pumped out 
 and discharged into the stream. Owing to leakage from tanks the 
 said ballast water and bilge water contain a certain accumulation 
 of oil which has hitherto been discharged into the stream. 
 
 One of the superintendents of the Standard Oil Company said 
 
AND Shell-Ftsh C03IMTSST0N. 43 
 
 that tliat company would arranf^e so that the oil from tank vessels 
 could be pumped into a receiving tank at the oil yards and utilized 
 instead of being as heretofore discharged into the stream and 
 wasted. 
 
 While it may be impossible to so conduct an oil refinery as to 
 prevent the outflow of the slightest trace of oil, yet much has been 
 accomplished and I think better results can be obtained. Some 
 refiners have informed me that although the erection of several 
 tanks (to hold wash-water for rest and oil separation) has cost 
 them $750 each, they are not at a loss thereby, as experience has 
 shown them that they collect mau}^ hundreds of barrels of oil per 
 month which heretofore they discharged unknowingly into the 
 stream with the wash-water, not thinking that the percentage of 
 loss was as great in this direction as has been shown to be the 
 fact by collecting the oil from the rest tanks as hereinbefore 
 indicated. 
 
 Another source of pollution of the streams with oil exists in the 
 matter of an oil pipe which belongs to the Tidewater Pipe Line 
 Co. This oil pijDe extends from New Jersey across the extensive 
 natural oyster beds in Staten Island sound to a point on Staten 
 Island, thence across meadow land, thence to the flats opposite 
 Elizabethport, N. J., thence across the channel between Staten 
 Island and New Jersey, thence across Newark bay to the main- 
 land, thence to Bayonne, N. J. This pipe has broken several times 
 during the past year covering the water of the section with great 
 quantities of crude oil. In one instance the vast quantity of oil 
 from said source covered the main stream (where passenger 
 steamers and vessels of various classes navigate). By some means 
 it became ignited ; the river in the vicinity became a sheet of 
 raging flame and a large schooner lying out in the stream was 
 completely enveloped by the flames upon the water and destroyed, 
 being burned to the water's edge. The vessel was valued at 
 $10,000 which amount, I am informed, was recovered from the 
 Pipe Line Co. I ain informed that the aforesaid company has 
 authority from the State to construct said pipe line. 
 
 The universal testimony of the users of the Kill von Kull and 
 Staten Island sound is to the effect that the condition of the 
 streams during the past year has been much better than for any 
 like period since the establishment of the oil refineries and 
 kindred establishments along the shores of said streams. 
 
44 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 Your attentiou is respectfully asked to copies of several com- 
 mendatory letters upon the foregoing subject received from various 
 classes of citizens using said streams, wbicli matter is appended 
 to this report. 
 
 I have frequently inspected Newtown creek. It also appears to 
 better advantage this year than formerly. While frequent inspec- 
 tion of this section has rendered the reckless discharge of refuse 
 hazardous, it is but just to say that the various oil refineries there 
 located are under the same general control and management, as are 
 the large oil companies located at Bayonne, which influence must 
 be credited to some extent with much of the improvement 
 observed. 
 
 I noticed that the glue works located on the Kings county 
 side of Newtown creek, near Maspeth avenue, was discharg- 
 ing much refuse into the creek. The discharge colored 
 the water for a considerable distance from the outlet and 
 also precipitated a heavy deposit. I obtained several sam- 
 ples of the discharge, and also samples of the deposit were 
 taken from the bottom at mouth of outlet. I notified the parties ; 
 they subsequently called at this office and agreed at once to begin 
 the construction of large vats in which the waste wash-water is to 
 be allowed to rest and settle ; the clear water then to be discharged. 
 There are many public sewers carrying the miscellaneous accumula- 
 tion due to the populous cities of Brooklyn and Long Island City, 
 which sewers empty their contents into the creek ; consequently 
 the creek can not be expected to be as completly free from pollution 
 as it was in the earl}- days of the "oldest inhabitant" when his 
 neighbors were few and the present numerous industries were 
 undreamed of. Most of the available space on either side of the 
 creek (as far as navigation extends) is now occupied by manufac- 
 tories of various kinds and frequent inspections are required to 
 restrict the emission of refuse. 
 
 Gas-works have also been a prolific source of trouble. The 
 refuse emitted therefrom being very similar to the refuse from oil 
 refineries, and not less disastrous to oyster interests. In some 
 instances the volume of the pollution exceeded that which would 
 be observed at an oil refinery. 
 
 The slips and river in the vicinity of gas-works have been 
 observed to be covered with a heavy tarry and oily refuse which 
 being subject only to the force and direction of wind and tide, the 
 
AND Shell-Fish Commission. 45 
 
 pollution is carried to distant points. The gas-works near tlie 
 head of Gowanus creek were found to be emitting refuse. Samples 
 were obtained, and the parties notified to discontinue the emission 
 of gas refuse into the creek. Tliej said, in reply, that they had 
 constructed safeguards against the emission of refuse, and if any 
 had escaped, it was due to the negligence of employes and that 
 greater care would be taken in future. 
 
 The gas-works at foot of Hudson street, East river, Brooklyn, 
 were found to be discharging much foul matter ; upon a notice 
 being sent to the parties, they said that they would cause an 
 examination to be made, and arrest the outflow of refuse from their 
 works. I have since frequently inspected the dock front of this 
 company and have noticed nothing of a foul character flowing from 
 the outlet at which I had obtained several samples of refuse 
 previous to said notice. 
 
 At the works (two plants) of the Consolidated Gas Company, 
 and at the works of the Equitable Gas-Light Company of New 
 York, I observed that much refuse matter was being discharged 
 into the river. 
 
 Both companies were warned to stop the .emission of refuse from 
 their gas-works into the stream. The offense continued. I there- 
 fore presented complaints to the grand jury of the county of New 
 York, and noted sixty-three (63) samples of refuse which I had 
 obtained, each bottle being particularly marked as to exact 
 locality, date, etc., and with such further inscriptions as were suit- 
 able to the case, as "hot discharge," "bottle held at outlet," "pro- 
 fuse discharge," "steaming," "vapor j)ainful to the eyes," "surface 
 at point of contact of effluent," " incrustation of dock at outlet," 
 "deposit taken from bottom at outlet," etc. 
 
 The Consolidated Gas Company and the Equitable Gas Light 
 Company were indicted upon aforesaid complaints. Three indict- 
 ments were obtained; two against the Consolidated and one 
 against the Equitable Company. I have obtained many samples 
 of refuse emitted into Flushing bay by the dye-works at College 
 Point. The water of the bay is at times colored crimson, blue, 
 green, yellow or black, as the case may be. The shell-fish upon 
 the banks of the bay were found to be rotten, poisoned by the sul- 
 phuric acid and refuse emitted as aforesaid, which not only kills 
 shell-fish by contact, but also operates in changing the character 
 of the vegetation upon the bottom, thus affecting the supply of 
 food for fish and shell-fish. 
 
46 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 Several complaints have beeu made to this oiSce iu respect to 
 the emission of said refuse. I investigated the matter, and learned 
 that the parties did not discharge their refuse from their works 
 directly into the bay by means of a private outlet, but that they 
 used the public sewers, and had permission from the village 
 authorities to do so. I then wrote the president of the village as 
 to the facts of the case, and asked for their aid in eradicating the 
 evil. I have received no response to my letter. Several applica- 
 tions have beeu received from dredging companies to have some 
 suitable point in the deep water of Long Island sound (within the 
 limits prescribed by chapter 300, Laws of 1886) set apart for 
 depositing dredging of slips. Certain contractors desire a similar 
 privilege extended to them to deposit cellar dirt and other earth. 
 I have written to the Attorney-General of the State as to the mat- 
 ter, and have beeu by him referred to the district attorney of the 
 particular county to be aidfected by such deposit of aforesaid 
 material. Upon the advice of such district attorney, I protested 
 against the deposit of the aforesaid material as proposed. 
 
 The existing law on the subject directs that aforesaid material 
 shall be deposited al)ove high-water mark, or behind a safe bulk- 
 head, or at a point to be designated at sea. 
 
 Oystermen com})lain that under the cover of night dredgings from 
 slips and other refuse is deposited near and upon oyster grounds 
 to their injury. 
 
 Steam dredges are continually operating in and about the slips 
 and water-ways of this section. The vast accumulation of material 
 from this source, together with sand, mud, earth, cellar dirt, stone, 
 ashes, cinders, ballast, or other heavy substances of various 
 descriptions obtained from and about the lai'ge cities of this sec- 
 tion, aggregates into an enormous volume. The numerous scows 
 laden with above named materials are towed from their base of 
 operation at day or night, as the tide may suit. 
 
 It is not an uncommon sight to observe scows laden with dredg- 
 ings being towed during the day to some convenient point and 
 made up in tows, the cargoes to be dumped at night. The indis- 
 criminate dumping of mud dredgings from slips materially injures 
 the harbor. I liave not personally observed such illegal dumping. 
 Boatmen have informed mo that while navigating New York bay 
 and Earitan bay at night they have been sufficiently near tows of 
 aforesaid character to hear the operation of dumping. In no 
 
AND Shell-Fish Co3imission. 47 
 
 instance did tliey obtain sucli evidence as would specifically fix the 
 offense upon any particular party. 
 
 In some instances the tug towing the scows at night violated the 
 law by not having lights set. This, of course, was to prevent detec- 
 tion. In some" instances it is believed that the offenders pro- 
 ceeded from the slips at Perth or South Amboy, or other points in 
 New Jersey. 
 
 The recent establishment of the State boundary line in Raritan 
 bay, and the marking of the same by a line of buoys, will be of 
 assistance in determining the location for future offenses of afore- 
 said character in that vicinity. It is also of great importance to 
 the fish and shell-fish industries, as it will settle the vexed ques- 
 tion as to the limits of the respective jurisdiction of the State of 
 New York and State of New Jersey as to the extent of oyster and 
 clam territory in that section. 
 
 The boundary line^decided upon redounds to the credit of the 
 commissioners charged with the work. It will give general satis- 
 faction, and can be accepted upon the part of both States upon the 
 full assurance that equal and exact justice has been done to all 
 interests concerned. 
 
 The rej)rehensible practice of dumping in the harbor in disregard 
 of certain bounds and limits could be stopped as effectively as in 
 the matter of dumping at Execution light, Long Island sound, 
 last year, if the proper actions be taken. 
 
 I would respectfully renew and amend my suggestion in my last 
 report, " That to abolish the nefarious practice aforesaid, the 
 present success of which is mainly due to its being done under 
 the cover of night, would be to enact a law forbidding the dump- 
 ing of garbage, dredgings and other refuse matter into the waters 
 of this section, except in the daytime, at certain points to be 
 designated. This would have a signal effect in correcting the evil 
 complained of, and also to impose upon the offender a heavy fine ; 
 and allow any citizen to become an informer ; and entitle such 
 citizen acting as an informer to an equitable proportion of the fine, 
 after the cost of prosecution be first deducted from the fine imposed. 
 Upon the New Jersey shores of the Hudson river, New York 
 bay, Kill von Kull, Staten Island sound and Raritan bay, are 
 located many oil refineries and kindred establishments emitting 
 refuse into the said waters; dredging from slips, and other refuse 
 from the State of New Jersey, is deposited into the waters of the 
 
48 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 State of New York to the injury of the oyster industry and otlier 
 important interests." 
 
 I would, therefore, suggest that a conference be had between the 
 hiw making ])owers of both States aforesaid, to the end that each 
 State enact a hiw of like tenor and purport to remedy the aforesaid 
 evil. 
 
 To guard efficiently the vast territory comprising a part of Long 
 Island sound, East river, Hudson river, New York bay. Kill von 
 Kull, channel between Staten Island and New Jersey, Staten 
 Island sound and Raritan bay, is a Avork of no small character. 
 The small appropriation allowed for this purpose precludes the 
 possibility of such supervision as the importance of the great 
 oyster industry demands. 
 
 Summary for the Year ending September 30, 1887. 
 
 Days on -which I reported for (bxty 308 
 
 Days on which I remained on duty all day 302 
 
 Days on which I remained on duty only part of a day .... 6 
 Days on which I did not report for duty (not including 
 
 Sundays) 5 
 
 Suits pending in Richmond county 3 
 
 Suits pending in New York county 3 
 
 Inspection still in progress. 
 
 Salary. 
 
 Balance available on November 30, 1886 $500 02 
 
 Amount ap})ropriated in June, 1887 (chapter 195) 1,000 00 
 
 $1,500 02 
 Amount received for year ending November 30, 1887. . 1,000 00 
 
 Balance available for ensuing year $500 02 
 
 For TrdveVmij and Incidental Expenses a)id Assistant 
 
 Balance available on November 30, 1880 $468 15 
 
 Amount appropriated in June, 1887 (chapter 195) 750 00 
 
 $1,218 15 
 Amount disbursed for year ending November 30, 1887, 390 42 
 
 Balance available for ensuing year $827 73 
 
AND Shell-Fish Commission. 40 
 
 General. 
 
 For Expenses of State Oyster Protector. 
 
 Amount appropriated in June, 1887 (chapter 4G0) $750 00 
 
 Amount disbursed for services of tug-boats and small- 
 boats since June, 1887, being the six months ending 
 November 30, 1887 262 75 
 
 Balance available for ensuing year $4:87 25 
 
 In order to be prepared for any emergency that might arise 
 during the year demanding special work, with its corresponding 
 increase of expenditures, I have been compelled to so economize in 
 the matter of disbursements as to forego certain necessary Avork ; 
 therefore the balances existing as above shown do not by any 
 means indicate that the appropriations heretofore stated are ade- 
 quate for the work of guarding the vast oyster territory of the 
 State. 
 
 I respectfully suggest that inasmuch as my time as above shown 
 has been entirely devoted to the public service, my request hereby 
 made for an increase of salary is not without reason. A sufficient 
 appropriation should also be made to provide for the maintenance 
 or frequent hire of a steam patrol vessel to pro]3erly and expedi- 
 tiously answer the demands of the service. 
 
 Very respectfully. 
 
 JOS. W. MEESEREAU, 
 
 State Oyster Protector. 
 
 Mariners' Harbor, S. I., November 21, 1887. 
 Eugene G. Blackford, Esq., Shell-Fish Commissioner, New York 
 State : 
 Dear Sir. — We, the undersigned oystermen, join in expressing 
 our appreciation of the improvement noticed during the past year 
 in the condition of the Kill von Kull and Staten Island sound. 
 Said improved condition we attribute to the energetic action of 
 yourself and State Oyster Protector Joseph W. Mersereau in 
 enforcing what is known as the sludge acid law. The sludge acid 
 nuisance was becoming unbearable, the heavier portion settles 
 upon and destroys the natural oyster beds, the lighter oily refuse 
 7 
 
50 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 enters and covers the surface of the oyster floats in which oysters 
 are phiced to freshen for market. 
 
 If the oysters in being taken from the floats are raised through 
 a surface of oily refuse it adheres to the shells, and in the process 
 of opening the oysters become impregnated with an oily taste 
 which injures their market value. 
 
 We earnestly desire a vigorous enforcement of the law against 
 depositing sludge acid and other oil}' refuse into our waters and 
 trust that yoa will continue the fight against the pollution of our 
 waters. 
 
 BEDELL JONES. CHARLES VAN NAME. 
 
 AMOS MERRELL. CHARLES M. DECKER. 
 
 DOUGLAS THOMPSON. HENRY FISHER. 
 
 EDGAR MERSEREAU. MOSES VAN NAME. 
 
 GEORGE A. SHARRET. RUSSELL TOMLINSON. 
 
 A. W. STINEMIRE. JOSEPH LA TOURETTE. 
 
 EDMOND DECKER. AARON BUSH. 
 
 DAVID LA TOURETTE. ABRAM MARTINEAU. 
 
 EDDIE MARTINEAU. G. M. SHOTWELL. 
 
 JOHN B. KING. ABRAM KRUSER. 
 
 West Poet Richmond, S. I., November 21, 1887. 
 Joseph W. Merserea.u, Esq., Sfeite Oijstcv Protector: 
 
 Dear Sir. — I take pleasure in saying that since Commissioner 
 Blackford and yourself began the enforcement of the law against 
 those who pollute our waters with oil refuse there has been a 
 marked improvement in the condition of the Kill von KuU. 
 
 I am daily about my railway and beach and have observed that 
 there has been much less pollution of the river this year than for 
 any like period since the establishment of the oil refineries along 
 the shores of the Kill von KuU and Staten Island sound. 
 
 On two or three occasions during the past spring and summer 
 I noticed that the surface of the water in the vicinity was covered 
 with an oily film ; I have observed that this was not refuse -from 
 the oil refineries, but was due to the breaking of an oil j^ipe 
 recently laid across Staten Island sound. 
 
 The fish and shell-fish industry is not alone injured by the 
 pollution of the waters ; it works great injury to boating and 
 yachting and consequently injures my business ; as yachtsmen will 
 
AND Shell-Fish Commission. 51 
 
 not frequent tlie Kill von Kull as a place of anchorage, nor will 
 they use our ship yards, and railways for repairing, painting, etc., 
 if their vessels are to be subjected to the great volume of pollution 
 heretofore encountered in this vicinity. 
 
 Previous to the enforcement of the law against the pollution of 
 our waters, I have been compelled repeatedly to scrape the thick 
 oily refuse from my railway before my men could begin their work 
 upon the vessels which were hauled out upon the ways. 
 
 That it has not been necessary to cleanse my ways during the 
 past year I attribute to the enforcement of aforesaid law. 
 
 I earnestly hope that the good work will l)e continued until the 
 evil is entirely eradicated. 
 
 Yours truly. 
 
 LEWIS S. St. JOHN. 
 
 Marinees' Harbor, S. I., November 22, 1887. 
 
 Joseph W. Mersereau, Esq., State Oyster Protector : 
 
 Dear Sir. — In the prosecution of my coal business, I am 
 required almost daily to pass along and over the Kill von Kull j 
 and am pleased to say that there has been much less oil refuse 
 upon the river during the last year, than during any year since the 
 oil refineries were located on said stream. 
 
 I think the improvement in the condition of the river is due to 
 the energetic action of Commissioner Blackford and yourself in 
 compelling the oil refiners to respect the rights of all users of our 
 waters. 
 
 Yours very respectfully. 
 
 GEO. W. THACKERY. 
 
 West Port Richmond, September 30, 1887. 
 Joseph H. Mersereau, Esq., State Oyster Protector: 
 
 Dear Sir. — I am engaged in operating a ferry across the Kill 
 von Kull. I am daily upon the river and about the beach, and 
 desire to add my testimony to that of the general public, that for 
 the last year there has been much less oil refuse upon the water in 
 the vicinity than heretofore. 
 
5'2 Oyster Investigation and Shell-Fish Commission. 
 
 Commissioner Blackford and yourself deserve the thanks of 
 watermen for the great improvement which has taken place in the 
 condition of the river since the enforcement of the law against the 
 pollution of our waters by oil refuse. 
 
 Very truly yours. 
 
 HENEY KING. 
 
 Mariners' Harbor, S. I., November 23, 1887. 
 Joseph W. Mersereau, Esq., State Oyster Protector : 
 
 Dear Sir. — Since Commissioner Blackford and yourself began 
 the enforcement of the law against the sludge acid nuisance there 
 has been a very perceptible improvement of the condition of the 
 surface of the Kill von Kull and Staten Island sound. 
 
 Had the emission of refuse continued or increased, as it very 
 probably would have done if not restricted by law, it would have 
 materially injured if not destroyed several business interests along 
 our shores. I am daily upon my coal wharf or upon and about the 
 river and know whereof I speak. 
 
 I trust the oil refiners will be compelled to continue the 
 observance of the law against the pollution of the waters with oil 
 refuse. 
 
 Yours truly. 
 
 MATTHIAS DeHAET. 
 
Proportions of Nutritive Ingredients, Water and Refuse 
 in Food Materials. 
 
 PERCENTAGES INDICATED BY COLORED SPACES. 
 
 NUTRIENTS. NON-NUTRIENTS. 
 
 !^ 
 
 Protein. Fats. Carbohydrates. Mineral Water. 
 
 FieBh-fonninK Bub6tanc«s, Oily and fatty Sugar, Starch, Matters 
 
 as the "lean" oJ meat, casein gnbetances. glycogen, CtC. 
 (curd) of milk, gluten of o j o i 
 
 wheat, etc. 
 
 Beef, round, rather lean 
 
 Beef, sirloin, rather fat 
 
 Mutton, leg 
 
 Smoked Ham 
 
 Pork, very fat, salted * 
 
 Flounder, whole 
 
 Codfish, dressed 
 
 Mackerel, whole 
 
 Salmon, whole 
 
 Salt Cod * 
 
 Smoked Herring 
 
 Oysters in shell, avge. 
 
 Long Clams 
 
 Round Clams 
 
 Mussels 
 
 Lobsters 
 
 Crayfish 
 
 Beef, round, rather lean 
 
 Beef, sirloin, rather fat 
 
 Mutton, leg 
 
 Flounder 
 
 Codfish 
 
 Mackerel 
 
 Salmon 
 
 Oysters, bestf 
 ' ' poorest f 
 ' ' average 
 
 Long Clams 
 
 Round Clams 
 
 Mussels 
 
 Scallops 
 
 Lobsters 
 
 Crayfish 
 Cows' Milk 
 Cheese 
 Butter 
 Wheat flour 
 Potatoes 
 
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 ♦ Befase includes salt. f In respect to quantity of nutrients regardless of flavor. 
 
APPENDIX "A." 
 
 OYSTERS AS FOOD. 
 
 By W. O. Atwater, 
 Professor of Chemistry. Wesleyan University. 
 
 Very little is popiilai-ly known and widely varying views are held 
 with reference to the value of oysters and other shell-fiah for food. 
 Although a great deal of scientific research has of late been given to 
 the subject of food and nutrition, these particular kinds of food have 
 been studied but little, and what has 1 )een done is slow in getting into 
 print and becoming generally known. The lack of popular knowledge 
 of the subject is, therefore, easy to understand. The object of the 
 present article is to give a brief summary of the results of studies 
 conducted in the laboratory of Wesleyan University under the auspices 
 of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries.* 
 
 Speaking roughly, a quart of oysters contains, on the average, about 
 the same quantity of actual nutritive sul)stance as a quart of milk, or 
 a pound of very lean beef, or a pound and a half of fresh codfish, or 
 two-thirds of a pound of broad. But while the weight of actual 
 nutriment in the different quantities of food materials named is very 
 nearly the same, the quality is widely different. That of the very lean 
 meat or codfish consists mostly of what are called in chemical langiiage 
 protein compounds, or " flesh formers," the substances which make 
 
 * The studies belong to an investigation of the chemical composition and 
 nutritive values of American food fishes and invertebrates, one of tlio 
 investigations that are carried on with official aid, in this case that of the 
 United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, but of which the larger 
 part of the pecuniary expense is paid from private sources. It is proper 
 that I should say here that the part of the investigation which has to do 
 with oysters and other shell-fish would not have been undertaken had not 
 the expenses of beginning it been in part defrayed by a personal contribu- 
 tion from Mr. E. G. Blackford, Fish Commissioner of th(^ State of New 
 York. Preliminary accounts of the woiic have been given in the commis- 
 sioner's reports of the United States Commission of Fisli and Fisheries for 
 1880 and 188:$. (Published in 1883 and 1885.) 
 
54 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 blood, muscle, tendon, bone, brain and otlier nitrogenous tissues. 
 That of the ))read contains but little of these, and consists chiefly of 
 starch, with a little fat and other comjDOunds which serve the body as 
 fuel and supply it with heat and miiscular power. The nutritive sub- 
 stance of oysters contains considerable of both the " flesh forming " 
 and the more especially heat and force giving ingredients. Oysters 
 come nearer to milk than almost any other common food material as 
 regards both the a}nounts and the relative proi:)ortions of nutrients, 
 and the food values of equal weights of milk and oysters, i. e. their 
 values for supplying the body with material to build up its parts, 
 repair its wastes and furnish it with heat and energy, would be pretty 
 nearly the same. But while this statement is reasonably correct, the 
 studies thus far made are not sufficient to assure us of its absolute 
 accuracy. 
 
 The differences which oystermen observe in the quality of oysters 
 from different localities, of different age, and grown under different 
 conditions, are made clearer and are to a considerable extent explained 
 by chemical analysis. Taking the oysters in the shell, the proportion 
 of shell contents, " meat " and " liquor " together increases relatively 
 to the whole weight as the animal grows, at least up to a certain limit. 
 In other words a bushel of mature oysters will " open " more quarts 
 than a Inishel of the very young animals. But the differences between 
 different kinds, or between specimens of the same kind under different 
 conditions, are very wide. 
 
 Taking the edible portion of the oyster, after it has been removed 
 from the shell, the differences are much greater than peoj^le com- 
 monly suppose. This is apparent when we comj^are either the flesh, 
 "meats," or liquids, "liquor," of different specimens, or the whole 
 edible portion, meat and liquor, "solids" together. The percentage 
 of water in the edible portion of the different specimens of oysters 
 reported in the tables beyond, varied from 83.4 to 91.4 joer cent, 
 and averaged 87.3 per cent. This makes the amounts of " water-free 
 substances," i. e. actually nutritive ingredients, vary from 16.6 to 8.6 
 and averaged 12.7 per cent of the whole weight of the edible j)ortion 
 (shell contents) of the animals. In other words the contents of nutri- 
 tive material in a quart (two pounds) of shell contents, "solids," 
 varied from 2| to h\ ounces. The proportion of nutritive substance 
 was twice as large in the one case as in the other. 
 
 The large table at the end of the article (Table IV), gives con- 
 densed results of chemical analysis of a considerable number of speci- 
 mens of oysters, clams and other shell-fish, and Tables I, II and III 
 give various details of composition of these and other food materials. 
 
AND Shell-Fish C'o3lmission. 55 
 
 As the technical terms are somewhat unfamiliar, a few explanations 
 will perhaps be in place here. 
 
 If the reader will take the pains to notice the next piece of beef 
 that he has to carve for dinner, he will, of course, notice first of all 
 that along with the meat which is good to eat, there is more or less 
 bone, which, except in so far as it may be used for soup, is of no value 
 for food. The beef, then, may be regarded as consisting of edible 
 portion and refuse. In eggs there is the same distinction between 
 shells and the so-called "meat," and 03'sters and other shell-fish in 
 like manner, include the shells, which are simply refuse, and the 
 shell contents, which make u^ the edible portion. The inside of the 
 potato and the wheat flour are the edible jDortion, and the skin and 
 bran are refuse of potatoes and wheat. 
 . If we take the beef and separate the meat from the bone, cut it into 
 fine particles and keep it for a long time in a hot oven it will be gradu- 
 ally dried, that is to say the water will be driven out of it and the so- 
 called nutritive substance will remain. In the same way milk, eggs, 
 oysters, potatoes and flour are found to consist of water and nutritive 
 material. In estimating the value of these different materials for food 
 we leave the refuse and the water out of account and consider only 
 the nutritive ingredients. 
 
 We may take a piece of beef, and after cutting out the bone and 
 drying the meat, put the latter in the fire and burn it. Nearly all will 
 be consumed, but a portion will remain as ashes. An operation of 
 this sort is regularly carried on in the chemical laboratory in the 
 analysis of meat and other food-materials. Portions are dried with 
 proper apparatus, and the percentages of water and water-free sub- 
 stances are determined. Other portions are burned, and the percent- 
 ages of ash are found out. If we weigh the whole meat, bone and all, 
 to start with, and afterwards weigh bone and other refuse and the 
 meat, we can easily calculate the percentages of refuse and edible 
 portion. If we then determine the percentages of water, water-free 
 substance, and ash in the meat, we have made a fair start in the 
 analysis for determining the food' value. The water-free substance 
 contains all of the nutritive materials, or nutrients, but the analysis 
 thus far has told only the percentage of ash, cfi* mineral matters. 
 The proportions of the other ingredients mvist be found out before 
 we can judge exactly of the food value. 
 
 The meat consist of lean and fat. Part of the fat is in large lumj)s, 
 which can be easily separated from the lean. We often cut out the 
 fat and reject it instead of eating it. But a portion of the fat is in 
 very fine particles diffused throughout the lean. Although a part of 
 
t)Cy Mepoft of Oyster Investigation 
 
 this fat Ih in particles so fine as to be invisible to the naked eye, it is 
 possible to separate them very completely from the lean by processes 
 of analysis common in the laboratory. After the water and the fat 
 have been removed from the lean meat, the material which remains 
 will contain a little mineral matter, which would be left as ash if it 
 were burned, the rest consists of so-called protein compounds. The 
 protein is the chief constituent of Ush and eg'};s, as well as of lean 
 meat. It occurs likewise in milk and in vegetable foods, such as 
 wheat, corn, potatoes, etc. 
 
 Fat is familiar to us in meat from which we get it in the form of 
 tallow and lard, in milk from which it is obtained as butter, in the 
 various oils, such as olive oil, cotton-seed oil, and the oils of wheat 
 and corn. Larger or smaller proportions of fat are found in most 
 food-materials. 
 
 Potatoes, wheat and corn contain large proportions of starch. 
 Sugar-cane and sorghum are rich in sugar. Starch and sugar are 
 very similar in chemical composition, and are called carbohydrates. 
 Other carbohydrates are found in animals and plants; such as inosite, 
 or "muscle sugar," in muscle, and glycogen, or "liver sugar," in the 
 liver. 
 
 The mineral matter, or ash, which is left behind when animal or 
 vegetable matter is burned, consists of a variety of chemical com- 
 pounds commonly called salts, and including phosphates, sitlphates 
 and chlorides of the metals calcium, maguesium,'potassium and sodium. 
 Calcium phosphate, or phosphate of lime, is the chief mineral con- 
 stituent of bone. Common salt is chloride of sodium. 
 
 The number of different chemical compounds in our animal and 
 vegetable food materials is very large, but leaving water out of 
 account it is customary to divide the rest into the classes of which we 
 have spoken, to wit: protein, fats, carbohydrates and mineral matters, 
 and to look upon these as the nutritive ingredients, or nutrients, of 
 food. The proportions of these ingredients are determined by the 
 somewhat comjilicated methods of chemical analysis followed in the 
 laboratory, but our every day handling of food-materials often involves 
 processes, though crude ones, of analysis. 
 
 We let milk stand; the globules of fat rise in cream, still mingled, 
 however, with water, protein, carbohydrates and mineral salts. To 
 separate the other ingredients from the fat, the cream is churned- 
 The more perfect this separation, i. e., the more accurate the analysis' 
 the more wholesome Avill be the butter. Put a little rennet into the 
 skimmed milk, and the caseine, called in chemical language an albu- 
 minoid or j^rotein comi^ound, will be curdled and may be freed from 
 
And Siiell-Pish CoMMissroNi 57 
 
 the bulk of the water, sugar aud other ingredients by the cheese-press. 
 To separate milk-sugar, a carbolfydrate, from the whey is a simple 
 matter. One may see it done by the Swiss shepherds in their Alpine 
 huts. But farmers find it more profitable to put it in the pig-pen, the 
 occupants of which are endowed with the happy faculty of transform- 
 ing sugar, starch and other carbohydrates of their food into the fat 
 of pork. 
 
 The New England boy who on cold winter mornings goes to the 
 barn to feed the cattle, and solaces himself by taking grain from 
 the wheat bin and chewing it into what he calls "wheat gum," 
 makes, unknowingly, a rough sort of analj^sis of the wheat. With 
 the crushing of the grain and the action of the saliva in his mouth, 
 the starch, sugar and other carbohydrates are separated. Some 
 of the fat, i. e., oil, is also removed, and finds its way with the 
 carbohydrates into the stomach. The tenacious gluten, which con- 
 tains the albuminoids or protein, and constitutes what he calls gum, 
 is left. When, in the natural order of events, the cows are cared for 
 and the gum is swallowed, its albuminoids enter upon a round of trans- 
 formation in the boy's body, in the course of which they are changed 
 to other forms of protein, such as albumen of blood or myosin of 
 muscle; or are converted into fat, or are consumed with the oil and 
 sugar and starch to yield heat to keep his body warm and give him 
 muscular strength for his work or play. 
 
 There, is unfortunately, a little confusion of terms in the usages of 
 different writers on these subjects. Thus the words, protein, pro- 
 teids and albuminoids are all applied to what we have here called the 
 protein compounds. The term albuminoid, album-like, comes from 
 albumen which is best known in the form of white of eggs, a typical 
 albuminoid compound. The term 2:)roteids is applied by some 
 writers to albuminoids and by others to very different classes of 
 materials. The fats are sometimes spoken of as hydrocarbons, but this 
 use of the latter term is very incorrect. 
 
 These different classes of nutrients in food, to wit, protein, fats, 
 carbohydrates and mineral matters, have different uses in nutrition. 
 Muscle, tendon and bone are formed from the protein compounds. 
 These are sometimes called flesh formers because they make flesh. 
 Their chief use in the body is to make blood and to build up the 
 muscle, tendon, bone, and other tissues which constitute the frame 
 work of the body and repair them as they are being continually worn 
 out by use. Brain and nerve are also formed to a considerable extent 
 from the protein compounds of the food. The protein of the food is 
 also formed into fat in the body aud serves as fuel to supply it with 
 8 
 
58 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 heat and muscle energy. The fats of the food are stored as fat in 
 the body and may be transformed info carbohydrates, but their chief 
 use is for fuel. The carbohydrates are transformed into fat in the 
 body and may be stored as body fat, but their chief use is for fuel. 
 The mineral matters make bone and have various other uses in the 
 body. 
 
 When we eat meat, then, its protein serves to make blood, bone, 
 muscle, tendon, brain and nerve. We can also use it to make fat, 
 and it is consumed, i. e., burned as fuel, to yield its heat, to keep 
 our bodies warm and give muscular strength for work. The fat of 
 the meat can not do the work of the protein in forming muscle, tendon 
 and the like, but is much more valuable than j)rotein for fuel. Bread 
 supplies us with protein and fat, and, also, with carbohydrates in the 
 form of starch, dextrin and sugar. The protein and fats serve the 
 same purposes as those of meat. The carbohydrates, which make up 
 the bulk of the nutritive material of bread and potatoes, and of which 
 only minutest quantities occur in the meat, are valuable chiefly as 
 fuel, though they also yield fat. 
 
 To recapitulate; the niitritive material of very lean meat and the 
 leaner kinds of fish consists almost entirely of protein. Tallow, lard, 
 oils and butter are fats. Sugar and starch are carbohydrates. All 
 the different food materials contain mineral matters. Animal foods 
 supply, chiefly, protein and fats. Most vegetable foods contain but 
 little of these, their nutrients being chiefly carbohydrates. Beans, 
 pease and other leguminous plants, however, supply considerable 
 quantities of j)rotein. Milk differs from most other animal foods in 
 that it has large quantities of a carbohydrate, "milk-sugar." O^'sters 
 approach milk in comjDosition. 
 
 For nourishment we need all of the different classes of nutrients 
 and in proper proportions. Thus a day's food for an average man 
 doing" moderately hard muscular work may ai^proi^riately sujijily, on 
 the average, about four and one-third ounces of protein, the same 
 quantity of fats, and sixteen ounces of carbohydrates. 
 
 The cheajiest food is that which supjilies the most nutritive material 
 for the least money, the most economical food is that which is cheapest 
 and best adapted to the wants of the user. 
 
 The following tabular statement siimmarizes the main points above 
 elaborated. 
 
 Viewed from the stand-point of their uses in the nutrition of man, 
 the constituents of ordinary foods may be succinctly classified as 
 follows : 
 
 1. Edible substance, e. g., the flesh of meats and fish, the shell con- 
 tents of oysters, wheat floiir. 
 
AND Shell- Fish CoMMisswff. 59 
 
 3. Refuse, e. g., bones of meat and fish, the shells of oysters, bran of 
 wheat. 
 
 The edible substance consists of 
 
 1. Water. 
 
 2. Nutritive sicbstance or nutrients. 
 
 Principal Nutrients of Food. 
 
 Albuminoids : e. g., albumen of egg, myosin of muscle 
 (lean of meat), caseine of milk, gluten of wheat. 
 I Gelatinoids: e. g., ossem of bone, collagen of tendons 
 (which yielded gelatin). 
 Fats : e. g., fats of meat, butter, olive oil, oil of maize and wheat. 
 Car-bohydrateft : e. g., starch, sugar, cellulois (woody liber). 
 Mineral Matters of Ash : e. g., calcium, potassium and sodium, phos- 
 phates and chlorides. 
 
 Ways in Which the Nutrients are Used in the Body. 
 
 forms the (nitrogenous) basis of blood, muscle, connec- 
 tive tissue, etc. 
 is transformed into fats and carbohydrates, 
 is consumed for fuel. 
 
 TJie Protein 
 of food 
 
 The Fats of j are stored as fat. 
 
 food i are consumed for fuel. 
 
 The Gorbo- i , . n • . <• . 
 
 \ are trauslormed into tat. 
 
 hydrates of A i i? i? i 
 
 ^ ^ ] are consumed tor tuel. 
 
 food \ 
 
 In being consumed for fuel, the nutrients yield enery in the forms 
 of heat, which keeps the body warm, and muscular energy, strength 
 for work. The quantities of energy which different food-materials are 
 capable of yielding and which are taken as the measure of the fuel- 
 value, are determined by certain methods.* 
 
 I have not applied these methods of calculation to shell-fish in this 
 article, because the nature of the compounds which make up their 
 nutritive ingredients is not fully understood, and it is not certain 
 that we call protein, fats and carbohydrates in them have the same 
 fuel-value as in meats, fish, etc. For the same reason I have not 
 attempted detailed estimates of the pecuniary economy of shell-fish as 
 compared with other food-materials.f 
 
 *See article on " The Potential Energy of Food " in the Century Maga- 
 zine for July, 1888. 
 
 t See article on " Pecuniary Economy of Food " in the same magazine 
 for January, 1888. 
 
60 
 
 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 The result of analyses of food material cau be stated in a variety of 
 ways. That followed in Tables I and III, beyond, may be explained 
 by an example. 
 
 The flesh, or edible j^ortion of a specimen of beef sirloin, of medium 
 fatness, was analyzed and found to contain, approximately, water, sixty 
 per cent; protein, nineteen per cent; fats, twenty jDer cent; mineral 
 matters, one per cent. But when we buy our sirloin steak or roast, 
 by the pound, as we ordinarily do, we get not only the flesh, the edible 
 sul)stance, but with it more or less bone, sinew and other refuse mat- 
 ter. This specimen contained about one-fourth or twenty-five per 
 cent bone, and three-fourths, seventy-five per cent, of flesh. If then 
 we are to consider the composition of the meat as we buy it, we must 
 take the refuse matters into account. The proportions of the several 
 ingredients in both the edible portion and the whole piece above 
 referred to, are shown in the following talkie: 
 
 
 In flesh, 
 
 edible 
 
 portion. 
 
 In meat, 
 
 as bought, 
 
 including 
 
 refuse. 
 
 Refuse, bonos, etc 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 None. 
 
 00 
 
 19 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 Per cent. 
 25 
 
 Watei- 
 
 45 
 
 
 14 'i 
 
 Pat 
 
 15 
 
 Mineral matters 
 
 QJi 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 This very imperfect analysis may be stated in the following form, as 
 is done in the tables beyond: * 
 
 Constituents of Sample of Beef, Sirloin. 
 
 
 In Edible Portion — 
 
 I. <:, tlesh freed from lione ii'iui otlier 
 
 refuse. 
 
 In Meat as Purchased — 
 (including both edible portion and refuse). 
 
 FOOD 
 MATERIAL. 
 
 
 c 
 
 NUTRIKNTS 
 
 
 EDIBLE PORTION. 
 
 ^ 
 
 "5 
 
 3 - 
 
 NUTRIENTS. 
 
 
 p 
 
 « 
 
 fe 
 
 55" 
 
 I 
 
 Oh 
 
 Is 
 
 «2 
 
 U ^ 
 
 at 
 
 Beef, sirloin, mod. 
 fatness 
 
 Pr. ct. 
 
 60 
 
 Pr. ct. 
 
 40 
 
 Pr. ct. 
 19 
 
 Pr. ct. 
 20 
 
 Pr. ct. 
 1 
 
 Pr. ct. 
 
 Pr. ct. 
 
 4.') 
 
 Pr. ct. 
 30 
 
 Pr. ct. 
 14.3 
 
 Pr.ct. 
 
 15 
 
 Pr. ct . 
 0.7 
 
 * The tables contain also columns for carbohydrates, etc., which occur 
 in milk and in some shell-fish, but are not found in ordinary meats in 
 sufficient amount to warrant their presence in such tables as these. 
 
AND Shell-Fish Co3Imission. (31 
 
 Table I, herewith, gives the composition of a number of animal foods, 
 mostly from late American analyses. It is only a short time since 
 analyses of American meats, fish, etc., have been undertaken in any 
 considerable number, and those as yet accomplished are far from 
 sufficient for a complete survey of the subject. Indeed, the vsrork 
 already done can be regarded only as a beginning. Still, the figures 
 will give a tolerably fair idea of the average composition of the articles 
 named : 
 
62 
 
 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 n 
 
 '^ 
 
 Oh 
 
 W -2 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 l'uj:eu!i\[ 
 
 -iiqoq.iTJO 
 
 •e^u^ 
 
 •uie^o.ij 
 
 MO^BM 
 
 CO o a> « < 
 t-l »-l O fH T 
 
 .rHCOi-lT-lCiaO 
 
 dt-ICO»;^'rJiCCC'ClCCOC-»*HX'COr-liri!Ci-tOt' 
 
 O) 
 
 d[r-OOOCOC"l':OOCOOClvOu^i-ltDi-l-t<CCO OOCOCCC 
 
 a, 
 
 C3 O O "<*< CO »0 <N lO '<*< O OO (M 1-H CN ID -^ CO t- CO tH t- O 00 (M 
 
 OlOOtOOlt— COOOOO^lOOlOOOt-ClC-IO ^OrH 
 
 C I *_J «J 1— ' '^J WJ l— '.*-' 
 
 ^ O •-+< in CO 'Tl lO 
 
 < ^ T-i i-i i-H -* r: 
 
 CO CD 
 
 ■Tfio^i^ cococooboot- 
 
 
 C^OO'+CT'^COOiCOCOf-iai-^COCOCOCOCOCNt- 
 9^ O* !::■ X' -t< O :0 O -t^ U^ ^1 O i-t X. T1 CO X Ci O It- 
 
 "-■i-iiNWi-irtCOc^-t^co-t^knxxx-^co-^ox 
 
 04 
 
 '^ t. iJ 
 ■^^"^ 
 
 O -J TO 
 
 c •:; in 
 
 ,x a o 
 
 aj D-^ <D 
 
 
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 5-j c;2 03 fX] 
 
 sa 
 
 ■ •» - ^ _ d " 
 
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 o—i a 
 
 '^d o 
 
 m j^ Sic 
 
 ^ ^ ^ 
 
 B <D o 
 
 'S'3 a >,!>.>, o o^5 o £; jr CD <c 
 
 tit 
 ^ ■-, 
 
 - a '^* c* 
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AND Shell-Fish Commission. 
 
 63 
 
 ^ooo<^^'^^THr-ll-^^-•oo:lC001-l 
 
 
 <D CO O CC t-H 
 
 ^ 
 
 CO 
 
 C^ O QO CO in O CO 
 
 
 iOCO-^C^-^-^COOiH-^dOiar-t 
 
 ■»* 
 
 CO 10 50 O -* 
 
 rt 
 
 (M 
 
 00 in t- 
 
 m o 
 
 ^ 
 
 C) 
 
 
 
 ,_^ 
 
 c 
 
 
 ,_( 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 to Oi CO <M o 
 
 c- 
 
 00 in o ^ 
 
 11 o 
 
 ^ 
 
 = 
 
 
 
 -« O CO 
 
 t- T-H 
 
 ,_, 
 
 c? 
 
 OJ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 tDC3"*CTCScr^^C000(M-HHC1OC0m 
 
 COlftOOt^inCO-^OrHr-lt-T-lOi-lin 
 <DOOOOQOODODCOOOtX>OOQOCOT-Hr-lt:- 
 
 • • 4j ffi ■■•••••••• • 
 
 : : CD tic : I . : ; : : r : : ! 
 .-I- O) c3 • • 
 
 •^j tn t< • Cf! 
 
 : ® o ^ 1 2 .:.::.:: : 
 •£i ac3 a^ 
 
 • . , -ce o ./ vi ^'■^ J : : ;^ : 
 
 rH tn cc a3-T< _i fi :;^ tci^ . . -; • 
 ^cccr[cas2^-^cg"'(D-^4^S 
 
 5g >.>..>, q oj:; o o t^7„ tc S 03-2 
 
 [> ©if j-'-4J 
 oja Sr^ o 
 
64 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 The colored diagram expresses the facts of Table I in a way which 
 makes them more easily seen at a glance. One of the first things that 
 strikes the eye in looking down the diagram are the black bands, 
 which represent the proportions of refuse, i. e. bones of meat, bones, 
 skin and entrails of fish, and shells of shell-fish. The bulk of the 
 weight of the oysters and other shell-fish, as taken from the water, is 
 shell. The percentages of refuse in the meats and fish are very vari- 
 able; the fat pork has very little refuse, the beef more, while in some 
 kinds of fish, as fiounder, the bones, skin and entrails together make 
 up more than half the whole weight. 
 
 The percentages of water, indicated by light green bands, are like- 
 wise extremely variable; in the edible portions of shell-fish, fish and 
 most meats the water makes up the larger part. The quantities of 
 nutrients, i. e. actually nutritive substances, in the different food- 
 materials are represented by the whole of that part of each band at 
 the left of the light green. It is interesting to compare the very large 
 quantity of nutrients of the fatter kinds of meat and in flour with the 
 small quantities in fish, shell-fish and the leaner meats. 
 
 The most important of the nutritive ingredients, the protein, is 
 rej^resented by red; the leaner fish, like very lean meat, consist mostly 
 of protein. The very fat pork, the wheat flour and the potatoes con- 
 tain relatively little. The portions of fat, represented by yellow, are 
 very variable; in the fat pork it is the principal ingredient. Flounder 
 codfish and the shell-fish contain extremely little. The carbohydrates, 
 represented by blue, do not appear in the meats and fish, the quanti- 
 ties being to minute. The flour and potatoes have large proportions 
 and there is some in the shell-fish. The diagram, with the corre- 
 sponding figures of Table I, tells its story so plainly that further 
 explanations are hardly needed. 
 
 Tables II, III and IV give results of analyses of specimens of shell- 
 fish. They are taken from a report now in preparation which will 
 include numerous details not given here. 
 
 The s]jecimeus, as received for analysis, were generally in the shell; 
 on arrival at the laboratory they were weighed. The shell contents 
 were then taken out and separated into flesh ("meat") and liquid 
 ("liquor"). Each of these was weighed separately, as were the shells 
 also. From these weights the percentages were calculated. Table II 
 erives results : 
 
AND Shell-Fish CoMinssioN. 
 
 65 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 % 
 
 ^^ 
 
 1-^ "^ 
 
 ■^ 
 
 f^ 
 V 
 
 Qs 
 
 
 .i-Ht-tC:iOO'*-4<Xt^»OCOt-OC 
 
 HOc^tncCi— ;co--Hc^ooL— cotocii-Hiooo'MCO'; 
 
 I :D CO CC Ci 
 
 ■O000CO000000ODQCCOCOQ0QOt-Q0aO'*-t'*"*^- 
 
 1 as cc w o -^ cc ys ': 
 
 l-^Ot-OOtHt-OCCNCDOSCTt-OOCiCS-^Ht't- 
 
 ■OiC^ClCDCOt-CO"^i-lt-Ot-CO«Di-HO 
 r-li-Ht— tC^>— Ir-tlOlClOlCCOm 
 
 
 ; Ci ci o -: 
 
 C: t- ,-H tH C^ CJ CI CO ^ 'X 'Tl 1-1 Cfi O C' :C »-H CO » 
 
 ; '^ Ci CO lo 00 t- 
 
 ) Ci -M O -* t:^ CT 
 CO CO C-1 rO i-H CO 
 
 
 a 05 n c3 
 3 t.gcsC-S 
 
 o o 
 
 QJ Cm 
 
 000 
 <S <S tSi 
 
 03 cS :S 
 
 art d 
 
 O) 135 O 
 C^ O CJ 
 
 ai-ji oj ^ s rf 3 c<.::.2.i o 
 
 ^^%llll-^^l £ P:^:||llll!? 
 
 P O O i^ 
 
 ■n 'SI 'SI -Ji rn ^ 'S. CO -x rr. si si 'Si en cc cf: tj v5 cc cc fl C C S S 
 OOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOCOOh^lH^li^F-lP^S 
 
66 
 
 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 ^ 
 
 o 
 
 % 
 
 W -2 -S 
 1^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ■se^BjpAq 
 
 -oq.i'BO 
 
 ■SJB^ 
 
 <05U5ci05ajo«Dirti:-OiO'**c-ioait-occrHt^t-as 
 
 <lMr-tC^Wi-HrH(MC-17^ClC^» 
 
 •nie:}OJ(j 
 
 •e^nei.i;tt^ 
 
 •je^BAi 
 
 u 
 <s> 
 
 ^ __^ 
 
 § C^ •*' m CO O CO ID CI <N lO m la CO CO C^ C» O r-l CO CO C'l (N ■*' -* 
 
 u 
 
 <D 
 
 Oh 
 
 d^-*O-*C0C0t:-QCiCT^CDO»-'^C-lCICCC0t-CD(N(MOO-*r-l 
 © 
 
 ^OT-l,-li-li-l^rHOOT-ltHi-lrtr-lOr-(i-lOTH>-(i-li-lOiH 
 
 i^ 
 
 fy 
 
 m 
 
 u 
 
 ID 
 
 Oh 
 
 CD 
 
 ^ ^ ,-(,-( rH .H 1-H ,_^ ,_( ^ ^ 
 
 ^^ _____^ 
 
 (D 
 
 T^cr'-^t-iCiO'+^.-IOOOiCO'-iOOtr-Ot-i-HWt-l-CtOiC':^'* 
 ^CiOOCOXXOOOOXCiCOGOOOCCOOaiOOOOC;XOOOOQOOOOO 
 
 o 
 
 z^o <p. 
 
 a-^_; 
 
 .9 ^ 
 
 tc Qd cs „ 
 
 
 *; a; iH-w ?3 rj a> ^ o tc 
 
 ■» a.3 a =: s g CO 
 
 ^"^"^' a a rt to' 33 cfi ti >. >; > > u t^'te'S +^22? 
 
 ^^^ d_d d 
 
 w w w ^ ci^ p^ . . . 
 
 !> !> d d O.i.- cf 
 S^ ^'C'-l! § § ffl '^ '^ ^^ 
 
 o o o"3":3'3 d a :=! ^ ^ !H-"iJ ri =! ^, ^ m - - - 
 
 -S w -w =5 o3 eS -;--.-; XI XJ X! , 
 
AND Smell-Fish Co3imission. (37 
 
 Thus in tlie case of the specimen from Stony Creek, taken in April 
 the shells made 81.1 per cent or a little over four-fifths; and the edible 
 230rtion, flesh and liquids together, 19.9 per cent or a little less than 
 one-fifth of the whole Aveight. Of this 19.9 per cent, the flesh consti- 
 tuted 7.5, and the liquids 11.4 per cent. In this sj)ecimen the propor- 
 tion of flesh was very small as compared with the liquids. In the 
 specimen of Blue Points, taken at the same time, the proportion of flesh 
 to liquids is just the other way; that of flesh being 13.4, and the 
 liquids 5.2. The variations in the proportions of flesh, liquids, total 
 edible portion, and shells are very striking. 
 
 We should not be warranted in assuming that the Blue Points, gen- 
 erally, have so much more flesh and liquid than the others. The figures 
 of Table II are taken from a larger number obtained in a series of 
 analysis of specimens from different localities on the Atlantic coast, 
 from Massachusetts to New Jei'sey.* One object of the investigation 
 was to get light upon the effect of kind, locality, season and other 
 conditions upon the composition. But though the number of analysis 
 was considerable, enough to cost a large amount of labor, the result 
 can be taken only as a general indication of the range of variation 
 and not as showing the characteristic composition of specimens of a 
 given source, or at a given time. To find, for instance, the average 
 composition of oysters from a given locality, and the differences 
 in composition in different seasons of the year, and in different years 
 would require an investigation to extend through a year or several 
 years and to include a large number of analyses of specimens 
 especially gathered for the purpose. Such a study of oysters from 
 different localities could not fail to bring interesting and valuable 
 results. Similar studies of clams and other shell-fish would be like- 
 wise interesting. Such an investigation might bring out important 
 facts regarding the connection between locality, season, food and age 
 of animals upon the composition. 
 
 Meanwhile the figures here given will at least suffice to show that 
 the difference in different specimens from the same locality, and from 
 different localities, are much greater than is commonly supposed. 
 The range of variation in the proportion of flesh, liquids and shell are 
 so clearly shown in Table II that further explanation is hardly 
 necessary. 
 
 The details of the proportions of flesh, liquids and shells and of the 
 composition of the flesh, liquids and whole edible portion are given in 
 
 *Especial thanks are due to Mr. E. G. Blaeklord and to Mr. G. H. Shaffer, 
 of New York, for specimens kindly furnished for analysis. 
 
C)H Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 Table IV, which includes all the specimens analyzed. Table III 
 recapitulates the composition of the edible portion of a number 
 of specimens of oysters, clams and mussels; Avith what was said in 
 connection with Table I it will need but little explanation. It is 
 interestini>' to note the variations in the composition of the oysters in 
 this table. The percentages of water range from 848 to 90.1 per cent 
 in the specimens here cited. In one of those not here given, but 
 included in Table IV, the percentage of water rose to 91.5. The per- 
 centage of water-free substance, i. e., total nutrients, in each case, is 
 the difference between the percentage of water and 100. The nutri- 
 ents accordingly range from 18.3 to 8.5 per cent. In other words, the 
 proportion of nutritive material was more than twice as large in some 
 cases as in others. The largest proportion of nutrients was in a 
 specimen of blue points, taken in April; the smallest is in one from 
 Norfolk, Va., also taken in April. It would seem from the figures 
 iu Table IV, that the northern oysters are, on the whole, richer in 
 nuti'itive material than the southern, but more analyses are needed 
 to show the true average ranges of variation. One reason why 
 the Virginia oysters appear to disadvantage here may be that 
 the latter were younger. It appears that, as the oyster grows older, 
 at least up to a certain time, not only do the proportions of flesh 
 and liquids increase more rapidly than the shells, but the pvo- 
 portiou of natural nutrients in the edible portion increases also. 
 That is to say, one hundred pounds of young oysters in the shell 
 would appear from these analyses to contain less of flesh and of 
 licpiids than a hundred pounds of older ones; and when both have 
 been shucked a pound of shell contents from the older animals would 
 contain more nutriment than a pound from the younger. I wish, 
 however, to be very careful in making these statements, because the 
 number of examinations is too small to warrant very definite general- 
 izations; indeed, the only figures which bear directly upon this 
 especial point are those for the oysters transplanted from the James 
 and Potomac rivers to New Haven harbor in the spring and taken out 
 in the following fall or winter. These show a notal^le increase during 
 this period, both in the quantities of shell contents in a given weight 
 of shell and in the amount of actual nutriment in a given weight of 
 shell-contents. Perhaps this change is more a matter of feeding and 
 fattening than of age. However it may be, it is not unnatural that 
 changes of this kind, which take place iu other animals, should occur 
 ill the oyster. Thus calves and pigs in growing and in fattening 
 increasos ii> both the proportion of meat to bone and in the propor- 
 
AND Shell-Fish Coivmisston. 09 
 
 tion of nutritive material in tlie meat. As regards shell-fish, this 
 particular point esj^eciaily demands more extended stvidy. 
 
 The figures of Table IV show a slight difference between the 
 average composition of the edible portion of the oysters taken from 
 the shell in the laboratory and that of those purchased, out of the 
 shells, in the form commonly called "solids " in the markets. Whether 
 this difference is accidental or due to the fact that as they are ordi- 
 narily shucked for sale, less of the liquids is saved than was done in 
 preparing our specimens for analysis, it is impossible to say. 
 
 Table IV is somewhat complex, and calls for further explanation. 
 The sjjecimens of oysters are arranged according to locality, from 
 Buzzards bay, Mass., to the James river, Va. The proportions of water, 
 protein, fat and mineral matters in the flesh, and in the liquids, are 
 given separately. The j)i'oportions of carbohydrates are not stated, 
 since they are not directly determined by the analysis, but are 
 estimated by subtracting the sum of the protein, fat and ash from the 
 total water-free substance, which latter is determined along with the 
 percentage of water, and is the difference between the latter and one 
 hundred. Details of the methods of analysis may be found in an 
 article entitled " Contributions to the Knowledge of the Chemical 
 Composition and Nutritive Values of American Food Fishes and 
 Invertebrates," in the report of the United States Commissioner of 
 Fisheries for the year I880, from which this table is taken. 
 
 The last two columns of the table, it will be observed, give the per- 
 centages of total edible portions and of total nutrients in the edible 
 portion of each specimen as received for analysis. Where the speci- 
 men consisted simply of the edible portion and in the case of the 
 " solids " of oysters, canned oysters, etc., the percentage of total edible 
 portion is, of course, 100. 
 
 I have already stated that some of the conclusions as to the values 
 of fats, which are ordinarily drawn from the chemical com2:)osition of 
 meats and fish are not ventured upon here because the precise nature 
 of the nutritive ingredients of oysters and other shell-fish is not 
 definitely understood. 
 
 Perhaps further experimental study will show that what we call the 
 protein of the oyster is very nearly the same as that of meat or milk ; 
 that what we reckon as carbohydrates of the shell-fish, have about the 
 same nutritive value as the carbohydrates of other foods — milk, 
 sugar and starch, for instance. Meanwhile, what is known implies 
 that differences are probably not very great, though they may be 
 considerable. 
 
70 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 The corapositiou of the liquid portions demauds a few words of 
 explanation. The amount of nutriment is very small indeed, the 
 principal constituents being water and salts of sea water. How much 
 food value these minute quantities of nutriment have, it is impossible 
 to say. Perhaps a given weight of what is called jjrotein in the liquids 
 of oysters may be not far inferior to the same quantity in the flesh; 
 but this is a matter of doubt. 
 
 Taking all in all, the variations in composition of oysters are very 
 wide. The same would very likely be found to be the case with clams 
 and other shell-fish, if a large enough number of analyses were made 
 to show the range of variation; but probably the averages of the 
 analyses here given represent pretty nearly the average composition 
 of the shell-fish as they are ordinarily found in the water and in the 
 markets. 
 
 The most of the specimens of oysters and other shell-fish here 
 reported upon were received without statement as to whether they 
 had been "floated" or not; but we suppose that, except when other- 
 wise stated, they had usually been floated, and the specimens were 
 such as are ordinarily sold. The effect of floating on the composition 
 is described in another place in this report Briefly stated, floating- 
 increases the proportions of water and diminishes the proportions of 
 nutritive ingredients and especially those of mineral salts. Floated 
 oysters will therefore have on the average more water and less nutri- 
 tive material than those not floated. The same is true of clams, 
 mussels, etc. 
 
 It is then safe to say that while the variation in the composition of 
 oysters, clams and the like are considerable, just as they are in differ- 
 ent kinds of meat, such as beef, mutton and pork, yet the proportions 
 which are expressed in the figures of Table I, and graphically set 
 forth in the colored diagram, make a reasonably fair exhibit of the 
 average composition of these food materials in the condition in which 
 we ordinarily buy them, and hence represent pretty nearly their rela- 
 tive nutritive values. While we must wait for further research before 
 we can with perfect confidence accept these figures as the actual 
 measure of the nutritive effects, we may say in the general way, that 
 the relative food values are indicated very nearly by the chemical 
 compositions as here given.* 
 
 As said above, the cheapest food is that which furnishes the actually 
 nutritive material at the lowest cost. The most economical food is 
 
 *Soe article on " Pecuniary Economy of Food " in Century Magazine for 
 January, 1888, above cited. 
 
AND Shell-Fish C'oMuWIS&ion: 
 
 71 
 
 Miat which is cheapest and best adapted to the wants of the user. 
 Various methods have been proposed for estimating -the I'elative 
 cheapness or dearness of food materials. For instance the cost of 
 actually nutritive ingredients in a given food material may be com- 
 puted by comparing the amounts of the several nutrients, protein, 
 fats and carbohydrates it contains, with its market price, one pound 
 of protein being assumed to cost, on the average, five times as much, 
 and a pound of fats three times as much as a pound of carbohydrates. 
 The computed costs of the same nutrient, e. g., protein, in different 
 foods, thus affords a basis for comparing the relative expensiveness of 
 the foods, as in the figures below.* 
 
 Comparative Costs of Protein in Food Materials. 
 
 POOD MATERIALS. 
 
 Ordinary 
 
 price per 
 
 pound. 
 
 Cost 
 of protein 
 per pound. 
 
 Beef, sirloin, medium fatness 
 
 Beef, sirloin, at lower price 
 
 Beef, round, rather lean 
 
 Mutton, leg 
 
 Milk, seven cents per quart 
 
 Salmon, early in season 
 
 Salmon, when plenty 
 
 Mackerel 
 
 Salt cod 
 
 Oysters, twenty-five cents per quart. 
 Oysters, fifty cents per quart, choice 
 
 Lobsters 
 
 Wheat flour 
 
 25 
 20 
 1(5 
 22 
 
 3. 
 
 100 
 
 80 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 12, 
 25 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 106 
 
 85 
 
 63 
 
 91 
 
 53 
 
 511 
 
 153 
 
 79 
 
 43 
 
 168 
 
 335 
 
 209 
 
 11 
 
 Shell-fish are delicacies rather than staple foods. The above figures 
 illustrate the fact that in this, as in other delicacies, makes them 
 uneconomical from the strictly pecuniai'y standpoint, yet they have an 
 important use. The conditions of our advanced civilization make 
 variety in diet desirable, and to a greater or less extent essential, and 
 
 * This method of computation is German ; assumed relative costs of the 
 nutrients are based upon market prices in Germany. The protein is 
 selected for the estimate because it is physiologically the most important 
 of the nutrients. For other and more accurate, though more complex, 
 methods see seventeenth annual report of Massachusetts Bureau of Statis- 
 tics of Labor, 1886, p. 253. 
 
7'2''^^:.- Re F OUT of Oystef L\]'£stj(,'ation 
 
 oftentimes flavor has a value which can not be counted in dollars 
 and cents. 
 
 The nutritive value of the shell-fish as of other foods, depends to a 
 considerable extent upon their digestibility, but so little is j)ositively 
 known of the digestibility of shell-fish as compared with meats and 
 other animal foods, that it lias not seemed fitting to say a great deal 
 a])out it here. Perhaps, indeed, the most that can be said is that, 
 while there are people with whom such substances do not always 
 agree, yet oysters belong to the more easily digestible class of foods. 
 
AND Shell-Fish Commission. 
 
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APPENDIX "B." 
 
 FATTENING OF OYSTERS 
 
 CHEMICAL CHANGES PRODUCED IN FLOATING. 
 
 By Professor W. O. Atwater. 
 
 It is a common practice of oyster dealers, instead of selling tlie 
 oysters in the condition in which they are taken from the beds in salt 
 water, to first place them for a time, forty-eight hours, more or less, 
 in fresh or brackish water, in ordei-, as the oystermen say, to " fatten " 
 them, the operation being called "floating" or "laying out." By this 
 process the body of the oyster acquires such a plumpness and rotund- 
 ity, and its bulk and weight are so increased as to materially increase 
 its selling value. 
 
 The belief is common among oystermen that this " fattening " is due 
 to an actual gain of flesh and fat, and that the nutritive value of the 
 oyster is increased. 
 
 A moment's consideration of the chemistry and jihysiology of the 
 subject will make it clear, not -only that such an increase of tissue 
 substance in so short a time and with such scanty food supply is out 
 of question, but that the increase in volume and weight of the bodies 
 of the oysters is just what would be expected from the osmose or 
 dialysis which would naturally take place between the contents of the 
 bodies of the oysters as taken from salt-water, and the fresh or 
 brackish water in which they are floated. 
 
 If we fill a bladder with salt-water and then put it into fresh-water 
 the salt-water will gradually work its way out through the pores of 
 the bladder, and, at the same time, the fresher water will enter the 
 bladder; and, further, the fresh-water will go in much more rapidly 
 than the salt-water goes out. The result will be that the amount of 
 water in the bladder will be increased. It will swell by taking up 
 more water than it loses, while at the same time it loses a portion of 
 the salt. 
 
 It does this in obedience to a physical law, to which the terms 
 osmose and dialysis are applied. In accordance with this law, if a 
 
80 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 membraneous sac holding salts in solution is immersed in a more 
 dilute solution or impure water, the more concentrated solution will 
 pass out and at tlie same time the water or more dilute solution will 
 pass in and more rapidly. The escape of the concentrated and 
 entrance of the dilute solution will be, in general, the more rapid the 
 greater the difference in concentration and the higher the tempera- 
 ture of the two solutions. After the osmose has proceeded for a time, 
 the two solutions will become equally diluted. When this equilibrium 
 between the two is reached the osmose will stop. If the sac which 
 has become distended is elastic, it will, after osmose have ceased, tend 
 to come back to its normal size, the extra quantity of solution which 
 it has received being driven out again. 
 
 We should expect these principles to ajDply to the oyster. Roughly 
 speaking, the body of the animal may be regarded as a collection of 
 membraneous sacs. It seems entirely reasonable to suppose that the 
 intercellular spaces, and probably the cells of the body would be 
 impregnated with the salts of the sea-water in which the animal 
 lives, and this supposition is confirmed by the large quantity of mineral 
 salts which the body is found by analysis to contain, and which 
 amounts, in some cases, to over fourteen per cent of the water-free 
 substance of the body. 
 
 It seems equally reasonable to assume that osmose would take place 
 through both the outer coating of the body and the cell walls. In the 
 salt-water the solution of salts within the body may be assumed to 
 be in equilibrium with the surrounding medium. When the animal 
 is brought iiito fresh or brackish water, ?'. e., into a more dilute solu- 
 tion, the salts in the more concentrated solution within the body 
 would tend to pass in and produce just such a distension as actually 
 takes place in the floating. If this assumption is correct, we should 
 expect that the osmose would be the more rapid the less the amount 
 of salts in the surrounding water; that it would proceed more rapidly 
 in warm, and more slowly in cold water; that it would take place 
 whether the l^ody of the animal is left in the shell or is previously 
 removed from it; that the quantity of salts would be greatly reduced 
 in rioating, and that if it were left in the water after the maximum 
 distension had been reached, the imbibed water would pass out again 
 and the oyster would be reduced to its original size. Just such 
 is actually the case. Oystermen find that the oyters " fatten " 
 much more (Quickly in fresh than in brackish water; warmth is so 
 favoralile to the process tliat it is said to be sometimes found profitable 
 to warm artificially the water in which the oysters are floated; although 
 oysters are generally floated in the shell, the same effect is very com- 
 
AND Shell- Fish Commission. 81 
 
 monly obtained by adding fresh water to the oysters after they have 
 been taken out of the shell; indeed, I am told that this is a by no 
 means unusual practice of retail dealers. Oysters lose much of their 
 salty flavor in floating, and it is a common experience of oystermen 
 that if the " fattened " oysters are left too long on the floats they 
 become " lean " again. 
 
 This exact agreement and theory and fact might seem to warrant 
 the conclusion that the actual changes is the so-called fattening of 
 oysters in floating, are essentially gain of water and loss of salts. 
 The absolute proof, however, is to be sought in chemical analysis. In 
 the course of an investigation conducted under the auspices of the 
 United States Fish Commission, and which included examinations of 
 a number of oysters, and other shell-fish, I have improved the oppor- 
 tunity to test this matter by some analysis of oysters before and after 
 floating. The results of the investigations are to be given in one of 
 the publications of the commission. From this the following state- 
 ments are selected as perhaps not without interest to the fisheries 
 association. It is not improper that I should add here, that a por- 
 tion of the expenses of the investigation was borne by one of the 
 prominent officers of the association, Mr. E. G-. Blackford. 
 
 The account just mentioned of the experiments is preceded by 
 some citations regarding the practice of floating o^'sters which I 
 insert here, adding that I should be greatly obliged for any further 
 information upon the subject. 
 
 The following very opposite statements are by Prof. Persifor 
 Fra^er, Jr., who o ^tributes the changes mentioned to dialytic action: 
 
 "The oysters brought to our large markets on the Atlantic seaboard 
 are generally first subjected to a process of 'laying out,' which consists 
 in placing them for a short time in fresher water than that from which 
 they have been taken. 
 
 " Persons who are fond of this animal as an article of food, know 
 how much the ' fresh ' exceed the ' salts ' in size and in consistency. 
 The 'Morris Coves,' of this city, (Philadelphia), while very insipid, are 
 the plumpest bivalves brought to market. On the other hand, the 
 ' Abscoms ' and the ' Brigantines ' while of a better flavor (to those 
 who prefer salt oysters), are invariably lean, compared to their trans- 
 planted rivals, as also are the ' Cape Mays ' though, for some reason, 
 not to the same extent. 
 
 " The most experienced oyster dealers inform me that the time for 
 allowing the salt oysters taken from the sea coast to lie out varies, Ijut 
 is seldom over two or three days. At the end of this time the maxi- 
 
 11 
 
82 Report ot Oyster Investigation 
 
 mum plumpness is attained, and beyond this the oyster becomes lean 
 again, besides having lost in flavor." 
 
 The subjoined statements by Professor J. A. Ryder are interesting 
 in this connection. They are taken from a letter to Professor Baird, 
 United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, on " Floats for the 
 so-called fattening of oysters:" 
 
 "The simplest and most jDractical structures of the kind which I have 
 seen are the storage and fattening floats used by Mr. Conger, of Frank- 
 lin City, Md., and now in use by all the shipper and planters in the 
 vicinity of Chincoteagiie bay. I have been informed that similar 
 structures, or rather structures serving similar purposes, are in use 
 on the oyster beds along the shore of State Island, New York. 
 
 "It is probably a fact that in all these contrivances they take advan- 
 tage of the effect produced by fresher water upon oysters which have 
 been taken from slightly salt water. The planters of Chincoteague 
 call this 'plumping the oysters for market.' It does not mean that 
 the oysters are augumented in volume by the addition of substantial 
 matter, such as occurs during the actual approj^riation of food, but 
 only that the vascular spaces and vessels in the animals are filled 
 with a larger amount of water, due to endosmose. It is a dealer's 
 trick to give his produce a better appearance in the market, and as 
 such I do not think it deserves encouragement, but rather exposure. 
 
 " Mr. Conger has actually resorted to warming fresh water to 60 F. 
 in winter, by steam pipes running vmderneath the wooden enclosure 
 surrounding the ' fattening ' or ' plumping ' float. One good ' drink,' 
 as he expressed himself to me, renders the animal fit for sale and of 
 better appearance. 
 
 " Conger's floats are simply a pair of windlasses, supported by two 
 pair of i^iles driven into the bottom. Chains or ropes which wind 
 upon the windlass pass down to a pair of cross pieces, upon which the 
 float rests, which has a perforated or flat slat bottom, and a rim 
 eighteen inches to two feet high. These floats, I should think, are 
 about eight feet wide and sixteen feet long, jDerhaps twenty. These 
 structures are usually built alongside the wharves of the packing and 
 shipping houses, and are really a great convenience in conducting the 
 
 WOl'li. ^ * * ^ ". 
 
 Elsewhere Prof. Ryder speaks of the floats thus: 
 
 " The diaphragm itself was constructed on l)oards perforated with 
 auger holes and lined on the inside with gunny-cloth or sacking, and 
 the space between the perforated boards was filled with sharp, clean 
 sand. The space between the boards was about two inches; through 
 
AND IShELL-FiSH CoMillSSION. 83 
 
 this the tide el)l)ed and flowed, giving- a rise and fall of from four to 
 six inches during the interval between successive tides." 
 
 Mr. F. T. Lane, of New Haven, Conn., writes as follows about the 
 method of floating practiced by himself, and, as I understand, by other 
 New Haven growers: 
 
 "We do not always leave them two days in the boats — as a rule 
 only one day. We jiut them into brackish water and take them out 
 at low water or in the last of the falling tide, as then the water is the 
 freshest and the oysters are at their best. As it is not convenient for 
 us to put them into the floats and take them out the same day we do 
 not want the water too fresh. On one occasion, wishing to know what 
 the result would be of putting the oysters into water that was quite 
 fresh, I had one of my floats taken up the river half a mile further 
 than where we commonly use them and 100 bushels of oysters put 
 into it at high water and taken out at low water. They were in the 
 water from six to seven hours and came out very nice, fully as good 
 as those floated twenty-four hours in the brackish water. It was a 
 warm day and the water was warm. Under these conditions they will 
 drink very quickly. I have seen them open their shells in ten minutes 
 after they were put into the water." 
 
 For the following valuable information I am indebted to Mr. R. G. 
 Pike, chairman of the Board of Shell-Fish Commissioners of Connecticut: 
 
 " Connecticut oysters, Avhen brought from their beds in the salt 
 waters of Long Island sound, are seldom sent to market before they 
 have been subjected to more or less manipulation. As soon as possible 
 after being gathered, they are deposited in shallow tide rivers where 
 the water is more or less brackish, and are left there from one to four 
 days, the time varying according to the temperature of the season, the 
 saltness of the oyster, and the freshening quality of the water. Gener- 
 ally two tides are sufficient for the two ' good drinks ' which the 
 oystermen say they should always have. 
 
 " This ' floating,' as it is called, results in cleaning out and freshen- 
 ing the oysters, and increases their bulk; or, as many oystermen con- 
 fidently assert, ' fattening ' them. If the weather is warm, they will 
 take a 'drink' immediately if not disturbed; but if the weather is 
 cold they will wait sometimes ten or twelve hours before opening their 
 valves. Good fat oysters generally yield five quarts of solid meat to 
 the bushel; but after floating two tides or more they will measure six 
 quarts to the bushel. After they have been properly floated they are 
 taken from the shell — and as soon as the liquid is all strained off, 
 they are washed in cold water — and are then packed for market. In 
 warm weather they are put into the water with ice, and are also 
 
(S4 liEroRT OF Oyster In ]^estj nation 
 
 packed with ice for shipping. Water increases their bulk by absorp- 
 tion and by mixing with the liquor on the surface of the oysters. The 
 Salter the oyster the more water it absorbs. In twelve hours one 
 gallon of oysters, with their juices strained out, will take in a pint of 
 water; but when very salt and dry they have been known to absorb a 
 pint in three hours. 
 
 " Water alw^ays thickens the natural juices that adhere to the surface 
 of the oyster, and makes them slimj^ If too much water is added the 
 oyster loses its plumpness and firmness and becomes watery and flabby. 
 
 " Oysters that have been floated bear transportation in the shell 
 much better than when shipped directly from their beds. Oysters, 
 too, that are taken from their shells and packed in all their native 
 juices spoil much sooner than when their juices are strained out and 
 the meats are washed in fresh cold water. 
 
 " Long clams are not floated, but round clams are. But both, when 
 shucked, are washed in fresh water. This cleanses them of inud, sand 
 and e:^cess of salt, increases their bulk and imj^roves their flavor. 
 After washing they will keej) much longer without risk of spoiling. 
 If the salt is left in them, as they come from their native beds, their 
 liquor will ferment and they will quickly sjDoil. 
 
 "The above facts are gathered from the most intelligent men in the 
 shell-fish business in Connecticut, men who have had many years 
 experience in gathering oysters and clams and prej)aring them for home 
 and foreign consumption. They are all agreed that by judicious float- 
 ing in the shell, and by washing and soaking when out of the shell 
 the oyster and the clam increase in bulk and improve in quality and 
 flavor. We will not presume to say that this increased bulk is any- 
 thing more than a mechanical distension of the organs and the cellular 
 tissues of the oyster by water, or that its improved flavor is not due 
 simply to a loss of bitter sea salt dissolved out by the water. Many 
 intelligent cultivators are confident that the increase in bulk is a 
 growl h of fat; while just as many of equal intelligence, declare that 
 it is mere ' bloat ' or distension, akin to that of a dry sjionge when 
 plunged into the water. The exact nature of the change the chemist 
 alone can determine." 
 
 The following experiments were made with oysters supplied by Mr. 
 F. T. Lane, of New Haven, Connecticut, a communication from whom 
 was just quoted, and for whose courteous aid as well in furnishing the 
 specim_ens as in giving useful information, I take this occasion to 
 express thanks. 
 
 The oysters have been brought from the James and Potomac rivers 
 and " planted " in the beds in New Haven harbor (Long Island 
 
AND 8hell-Fish Commission. 85 
 
 sound) in April, 1881, and were taken for analysis in the following' 
 November. 
 
 Two experiments were made. The j^lan of each experiment consisted 
 in analyzing two lots of oysters, of which both had been taken from 
 the same bed at the same time, but one had been " floated " while the 
 other had not. The first sjsecimen was selected from a boat load as 
 they were taken from the salt water and the second from the same lot 
 after they had been floated in the usual way in brackish water for 
 forty-eight hours. ■ For each of the two experiments, Mr. Lane selected 
 from a boat-load of oysters as they were taken from the salt water, a 
 number, about three dozen, which fairly represented the whole boat- 
 load. The remainder were taken to the brackish water of a stream 
 emptying into the bay and kejDt upon the floats for forty-eight-hours, 
 this being the usual practice in the floating of oysters in this re. ion. 
 At the end of that time the oysters were taken from the floats and a 
 number fairly representing the whole were selected as before. Two 
 lots, one floated and the other not floated, were thus taken from each 
 of two different beds. The four lots were brought to our laboratory 
 for analysis. 
 
 The specimens as received at the laboratory were weighed. There- 
 upon the shell-contents were taken out and the shells and shell-con- 
 tents both weighed. The solid and liquid portions of the shell con- 
 tents, i. e., the flesh or " solid " and " liquor " or liquids, were weighed 
 separately, and analyzed. We thus *had for each lot the weights of 
 flesh and liquids, which together made the weight of the total shell- 
 contents, and the weight of the shells, which with that of the shell- 
 contents made the weight of the whole specimens. We also had from 
 the analysis, the percentage of water, nutritive ingredients, salts, etc., 
 in the flesh and in the liquids. From these data the calculations 
 were made to the changes which took place in floating. For the 
 details, which are somewhat extended, I may refer to the publications 
 mentioned above. It will suffice here to give only the main results. 
 
 The body of the animal may be regarded as made up of water and 
 so-called water-free substance. The water-free substance contains 
 the nutritive ingredients or "nutrients." They maybe divided into 
 four classes: (1) Protein compounds, the so-called "flesh-formers," 
 which contain nitrogen; (2) fatty substances, classed as fats; (3) car- 
 bohydrates; (4) mineral salts. These constituents of the flesh of 
 oysters have been but little studied. It is customary to assume them 
 to be similar to the corresponding compounds of other food materials, 
 but very probably the differences, if known, might prove to be impor- 
 tant. The mineral matters especially, which are very large in amount. 
 
(S6 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 api^ear to include considerable ot the salts of the sea water. Of the 
 nature of the ingredients of the liquids but little is known. They 
 consist mainly of water and salts, and the amounts of their ingredi- 
 ents which are here reckoned as protein, fats and carbohydrates, are 
 very small, so that whatever error there may be in classing them with 
 the ordinary nutrients of food it will not very seriously affect the 
 estimates of nutritive values. 
 
 General Results of the Experiments. 
 
 During the sojourn in brackish water both the flesh (l)ody) and the 
 liquid portion of the shell-contents of the oysters suffered more or 
 less alteration in composition. In order to show clearly what the 
 principal changes as shown by the chemical analysis were, some 
 statistics may perhaps be permissible here. 
 
 Changes in the Composition of the (Body of the) Oysters in Floating. 
 
 1. The changes in the constituents of the body were mainly such as 
 would be caused by osmose, though there were indications of secre- 
 tion of nitrogenous matters, and especially of fats, which are not so 
 easily explained by osmose. This I will sjDeak of later. 
 
 2. The amounts of gain and loss of constituents which the bodies of 
 the oysters experienced may be estimated either by comjoaring the 
 percentages found by analysis before and after dialysis, or by com- 
 paring the absolute weight of a given quantity of flesh and the 
 weights of each of its ingredients before, with the weights of the 
 same flesh and of its ingredients after dialysis. For the estimate by 
 the first method we have simj)ly to compare the results of the analysis 
 of the floated and the non-floated specimens. Taking the averages of 
 
 the two experiments, it apj^ears that: 
 
 Before After. 
 The percentages of Dialysis. Dia,lysls. 
 
 Water rose from 77.9 to 82.4 
 
 Water-free substance fell from 22 . 1 to 82 . 4 
 
 Total flesh 100.0 100.0 
 
 Protein 10 . 5 to 8.9 
 
 Fat fell from 2.5 to 1.9 
 
 Carbohydrates, etc., fell from 6.9 to 5.2 
 
 Mineral salts fell from 2.2 to 1.6 
 
 Total watei'-free substance of flesh 22.1 17.6 
 
 There was, accordingly, a gain in the i^ercentage of water and a loss 
 of that in each of the ingredients of the water-free substance. This 
 accords exactly with the supposition that during the floating the flesh 
 gained water and lost salts and other ingredients. 
 
Changes in Composition of Flesh of Oysters 
 in Floating. 
 
 Experiment I. 
 
 Experiment II. 
 
 Water. 
 
 [ZZTJ 
 
 Nutritive Ingredients. 
 
 n 
 
 MINERAL MATTERS. 
 Salts, e. g. Chlorides, Sulphates, etc. 
 
 CARBOHYDRATES. 
 Substances allied to Starch, Sugar, 
 
 L II. III. 
 
 etc. 
 
 r:3 
 
 FATS. 
 Substances more or less similar 
 to the fat of meat, butter, and the 
 fatty and oily matters of wheat, po- 
 tatoes, etc. 
 
 PROTEIN. 
 Flesh (muscle) forming substances 
 like those in the ' ' lean ' ' of meats 
 and fish, casein (curd) of milk, gluten 
 of wheat, etc. 
 
 I. Constituents in loo parts be- 
 fore floating. 
 
 II. Constituents in loo parts after 
 floating. 
 
 III. In floating, loo parts increases 
 to I20.8 and 113.6 in the respective 
 experiments. 
 
 II. 
 
 III. 
 
AND Shell-Fish C'o3imis8ion. 87 
 
 It will be more to the point to note the absolute increase and 
 decrease in amounts of flesh and its constituents — in other words, 
 the actual gain or loss of each, in the floating. Estimates by this 
 method have been made and explained in the detailed accounts 
 referred to. They make it appear that 100 grams of the flesh as it 
 came from the salt water was increased by floating, in one specimen 
 to 120.9 and in the other to 113.4 grams. This is equivalent to saying 
 that the two specimens of flesh gained in the floating, respectively, 
 20.9 and 13.4 per cent, or on the average 17.3 per cent of their original 
 weight. By the same estimates the water-free substance in the 100 
 grams of flesh before the floating weighed on the average 22.1 grams, 
 while that of the same flesh after floating weighed 20.6 grams, making 
 a loss of 1.5 grams or Q.Q j^er cent of the 22.1 grams, which the water- 
 free substance weighed before dialysis. The main results of the two 
 experiments thus computed may be stated as follows: 
 
 In the "floating" of 100 grams of flesh (body) of the oysters: 
 
 Before After 
 
 The weight of Dialysis. Dialysis. 
 
 Water rose from 77 . 9 grams to UG . 6 grams. 
 
 Water-free substance fell from 22-. 1 grams to 20.(1 grams. 
 
 Whole flesh rose from 100 . grams to 117.2 grams. 
 
 Protein was assumed to remain the same 10.5 grams to 10.5 grams. 
 
 Fat (ether extract) fell from 2.5 grams to 2 . :^ grams. 
 
 Carbohydrates, etc., fell from 6.9 grams to 6.0 grams. 
 
 Mineral salts (ash) fell from 2.2 grams to 1.8 grains. 
 
 22.1 20.6 
 
 Estimating the increase or decrease of weight of each constituent in 
 
 ]ier cent of its weight before floating: 
 
 Per cent 
 
 of original 
 
 weight. 
 
 The water gained 23 . 9 
 
 The free-water substance loses 6.6 
 
 The whole flesh (body) gained 17 . 3 
 
 The protein was assumed to neither gain or lose. 
 
 The fat loses 8.8 
 
 The carbohydrates, etc. , loses 12.5 
 
 The mineral salt loses 15.5 
 
 In brief, according to these computations, the flesh lost lietween one- 
 sixth and one-seventh of its mineral salts, one-eighth of its corbo- 
 hydrates, and one-twelfth of its fat, but gained enough water to make 
 up this loss and to increase its whole weight, by an amount equal to 
 from one-seventh to one-fifth of the original weig'ht. 
 
88 JiEPORT OF OYSTEI? ] NVESTIfl ATION 
 
 These estimates are based ou the assumption that the amount of 
 protein in the flesh remained unchanged during the floating. It seems 
 probable, however, that the flesh may have lost a small amount of 
 nitrogenous material. If this was the case the actual gain of flesh and 
 of water must have been less and the loss of fats, carbohydrates and 
 mineral salts greater than the estimates made them. But there 
 appears to be every reason to believe that the error must.be very 
 small, and since it would affect all the ingredients in the same ratio, 
 the main result, namely, that there was a large gain of water and a 
 considerable loss not only of mineral salts, but of fats and carbo- 
 hydrates as well, can not be questioned. 
 
 Changes in the Composition of the Liquid Portion (Liquor). 
 3. The liquids might be expected to receive material from the flesh, 
 and to yield material to the surrounding water. The materials com- 
 ing from the flesh would be such as the latter parted with by either 
 osmose or secretion. Those yielded to the water would either escape 
 hy diffusion or l^e washed away when the shells were open wide 
 enough to allov/. What share each of these agencies had in effecting 
 the changes that actually occurred in the liquids, the experiments do 
 not and, in the nature of the case, can not tell. Comparing the per- 
 centage composition of the liquids before and after floating, as shown 
 by the averages of the analysis in the two experiments, it appears 
 
 that : 
 
 Before. After. 
 The percentages of Dialysis. Dialysis. 
 
 Water rose from 94.9 to 95.5 
 
 Water-free substance fell from 5.1 to 4.5 
 
 Total 100.0 to 100.0 
 
 Protein rose from 1.9 to 2.1 
 
 Carbohydrates, etc., rose from 0.7 to 1.1 
 
 Mineral salts fell from 2.5 to 1.3 
 
 The increase in the percentage of water, and the decrease in that of 
 mineral salts are very marked. The quantities of fats (ether extract) 
 are too small to be taken into account. The increase of nitrogen and 
 that of carbohydrates, though absolutely small, are nevertheless out- 
 side the limits of error of analysis, and must, like those of the salts, 
 rejiresent actual changes in the composition of the liquids. 
 
 The experiments give no reliable data for the determinations of the 
 absolute increase and decrease of the liquids and their constituents, 
 so that it is impossible to say with entire certainty whether there was 
 or was not an actual gain of protein or fats or carbohydrates. It 
 
AND ShELL-FiSII OOJLMISSION. 89 
 
 would seem extremely probable, ll0^yever, that the liquids received 
 and retained small quanties of these materials from the flesh (bodies) 
 of the animals. 
 
 Changes in the Composition of the Whole Shell-Contents, Flesh 
 
 AND Liquids. 
 
 4. Comparing the average percentage composition of the total shell- 
 contents, before and after floating in the tvs^o experiments, it appears 
 
 that : 
 
 Before. After. 
 The percentages of Dialysis. Dialysis. 
 
 Water rose from 8.5.2 to 87.1 
 
 Water-free substance fell from 14.8 to 12.9 
 
 Total 100.0 to 100.0 
 
 Protein (N. X. 0.25) fell from 6.8 to C..5 
 
 Fats (ether extract) fell from 1,4 . to 1.2 
 
 Carbohydrates, etc., fell from 4.3 to 3.7 
 
 Mineral salts (ash) fell from 2.3 to 1.5 
 
 Total water-free substance 14.8 to 12.9 
 
 After so much detail I ought, perhaps, to simply summarize the 
 results in a few words and close. But one or two brief matters call 
 for a notice. 
 
 If the changes in composition of the oysters in floating were due 
 to osmose or dialysis alone, we should expect simply a gain of water 
 and loss of salts (and perhaps of carbohydrates). But the flesh seems 
 to have lost a little carbohydrates and fats and probably protein also, 
 along with the salts, while it was absorbing water. A way in which 
 this may have come about is suggested by my colleague, Prof. H. W. 
 Conn, who calls attention to the fact that some mollusks, when irri- 
 tated produce an extremely abundent secretion of mucus or " slime," 
 so much, indeed, as to sometimes render a small quantity of water in 
 which the animals may be confined, quite sensibly gelatinous. He 
 suggests that the change to fresh water may, indeed, induce such a 
 secretion of mucous and perhaps of carbohydrates and fats as well, 
 which would account for the increase of these substances in the 
 liquids. The observation of oyster dealers that water always thickens 
 the natural juices that adhere to the surface of the oyster and makes 
 it slimy, accords with Prof. Conn's statement. . 
 
 If such secretion did take place, the flesh must probably have lost a 
 little protion during the floating. The estimates of absolute gain and 
 loss of weight of flesh and ingredients (see detailed accounts of the 
 12 
 
90 Report of Oyster iNVESTiGATioisf 
 
 experiments) are based upon the assumption that the quantity of 
 protein was unaltered in floating. If protein was given off, therefore, 
 the estimates are wrong. Bat the quantity of protein secreted and 
 the consequent error must be, at most, very slight. If there is an 
 error its effect would be to make the quantities of nutrients after 
 floating appear larger than they really were. In other words, if the 
 error was corrected it would make the loss of nutritive material in 
 floating greater than it appears to be in the figures above given. As 
 explained in the detailed report above referred to. I have assumed 
 that the changes due to the ordinary processes of metabolism would 
 be to small too materially affect the results. 
 
 The experiments might have been so conducted as to decide this 
 question. It would have been necessary to simply take a large number 
 in each lot before and after floating and l^e certain that the number, 
 weight and bulk were the same in the floated and not-floated lot of 
 each experiment. For instance, we might, in each experiment, care- 
 fully select two lots of, say a bushel, each, as taken from the beds, 
 have the number of oysters the same in each bushel as an additional 
 assurance that the two lots were alike, float one bushel and weigh and 
 analyze both. A few experiments of this sort made under different 
 conditions of time, temperature, kind and age of oysters, etc., would 
 give reliable and valuable data. Unfortunately the means at my 
 disposal did not permit so thorough experiments. I am persuaded, 
 however, that the results of such series of trials, if they could be 
 made — and I wish they }night be — would be very similar to those of 
 the trials here repoi-ted. 
 
 It is very interesting to note that these processes which we have 
 been considering in the body of oysters are apparently very similar to 
 processes which go on in our own bodies, namely those by which our 
 food, after it is digested, finds its way through the walls of the 
 stomach and other parts of the alimentary canal into the blood, to be 
 used for nourishment. Physiologists tell us that the passage of the 
 digested materials through the walls of the canal is in part merely a 
 physical action, due to osmose, but that it is in part merely dejDendent 
 upon a special function of the organs. In like manner the changes 
 in the composition of the oyster, if the above explanation be correct, 
 are caused partly by osmose, and partly by special secretive action, 
 the cell walls and oiiter' coating of the body of the oyster correspond- 
 ing to the walls of the alimentary canal of the human body. 
 
AND SlIELL-FlSH C'OMJITSSION. 91 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 The main points presented in tliis paper may be very briefly 
 summarized thus: 
 
 In the floating of oysters for the market, a practice which is very 
 general and is also used for other shell-fish, the animals are either 
 taken direct from the beds in salt water and kept for a time in 
 fresher (brackish) water before opening, or water added to the shell- 
 contents after they are taken out of the shell. 
 
 When thus treated, the body of the animal takes up water and parts 
 with some of its salts; and small quantities of the nutritive ingredients • 
 escape at the same time. The oysters thus become more plump and 
 increase considerably in bulk and weight. But the quantity of nutri- 
 tive material, so far from increasing, suffers a slight loss. 
 
 In the experiments here reported, the increase in bulk and weight 
 amounted to from one-eighth to one-fifth of the original amounts- 
 This proportion of increase is about the same as is said to occur in 
 the ordinary j)ractice of floating or " fattening " for the market. 
 According to this, five quarts of oysters in their natiiral condition 
 would take up water enough in "floating " to increase their bulk to 
 nearly or quite six quarts, but the six quarts of floated oysters would 
 contain a trifle less of actual nutrients than the five quarts not floated. 
 
 The gain of water and loss of salts is evidently due to osmose. 
 The more concentrated solution of salts in the body of the animal as 
 taken from salt water, passes into the more dilute solution (fresher 
 water) in which it is immersed, Avhile a larger amount of the fresher 
 water at the same time enters the body. But part of the exchange 
 and especially that by which other materials, namely fat, carbohy- 
 drates, protein, etc., are given off in small quantities, is more probably 
 due to a special secretory action. There is thus a very interesting- 
 parallelism between these processes of secretion and osmose (dialysis) 
 in the oyster and those in the bodies of higher animals, including 
 man, by which the digested food is carried through the walls of the 
 alimentary canal into the blood. 
 
 The flavor of oysters is improved by the removal of the salts in 
 floating, and they are said to bear transportation and to keep better. 
 Wlien, therefore, the oysterman takes " good fat oysters," which 
 " yield five quarts of solid meat to the bushel," and floats them so that 
 "they will yield six qiiarts to the bushel," and thus has an extra qviart 
 of the largest and highest priced oysters to sell, he offers his custom- 
 ers no more nutritive material — indeed, a very little less- — -than he 
 would have in the five quarts if he had not floated them. But many 
 people prefer the flavor of the floated oysters, and since they buy them 
 
92 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 more for the flavor tliau for the nvitrimeut, doubtless very few custom- 
 ers would complain if tbe}^ understood all the facts. And consider- 
 ing that the practice is very general and the prices are regulated by 
 free competition, the watering of oysters by floating in the shell, per- 
 haps, ought not to be called fraudulent. But rather than pronounce 
 upon this and other questions suggested by the above considerations 
 I, however, should prefer to leave them to the association for 
 discussion. 
 
 In the common practice of preparing oysters for the market by 
 j)lacing them for a time in brackish or fresh water, called "floating," 
 "plumping "or "fattening," a considera])le amount of water passes 
 by osmose into the body of the animal, thus increases its size and 
 weight. At the same time more or less of the solid constituents pass 
 out, so that instead of a gain there is an actual loss of nutritive 
 ingredients. 
 
 The diagram opposite illustrates the changes found, by experiment, 
 in two lots of oysters. In (1) are shown the constituents in 100 parts, 
 by weight of the flesh of oysters l)efore floating. In (2) the comjiosi- 
 tion of 100 parts of the same after floating, while (8) shows the whole 
 weight and the weights of the several constituents, after floating, of 
 the oyster which before floating weighed 100. The protein, fats, 
 carbohydrates and part of the mineral matters are the nutritive 
 ingredients. 
 
 The remainder of the mineral matters consists of the salts of the 
 sea-water, which permeate the flesh, and of which part, with a small 
 amount of the nutrients, escaj^es in the floating. Thus 100 ]}^viH of 
 the flesh were comj^uted to increase to 120.8 parts in experiment 1, 
 and to 11;1G parts in experiment 2, but in both cases there was, with 
 the gain of water, a slight loss, not only of mineral salts (chiefly those 
 of the sea-water which permeated the flesh), but also of the nutritive 
 ingredients, fats and carbohydrates. The floating of the oysters is, 
 therefore, not a process of fattening, but of watering. 
 
AND Shell-Fish Commissiox, 93 
 
 APPENDIX "C." 
 
 Shell-Fish Law of 1887. 
 CHAPTEE 584. 
 An Act to promote aud protect the cultivation of sliell-fisli, witliin 
 the waters of this State, for the appointment of an additional 
 commissioner of fisheries ; to authorize the grant of franchises 
 for the use of certain lands under water belonging to the State 
 aud to make an appropriation therefor. 
 
 Passed June 16th, 1887 ; three-fifths beinj? present. 
 Tlie People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, 
 do enact as follows. • 
 
 Section 1. The Commissioner of Fisheries, appointed under chapter 
 three hundred aud nine, laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, 
 and his successor in office, shall be known as the Shell-Fish Commis- 
 sioner, and shall finish and complete the survey now being made under 
 his direction of all the lands under the waters of the State suitable 
 for use for the planting and cultivation of shell-fish, and shall make a 
 map thereof as heretofore provided. He shall finish tijud complete the 
 survey now being made of all the beds of oysters of natural growth 
 located in the waters of the State, and such beds of ousters of natural 
 growth shall be set apart and preserved, and shall not be deemed to 
 be included in the lands for which franchises are to be sold under the 
 l^rovisions of this act. Said commissioner shall ascertain the occu- 
 pants of all lands claimed to be in the possession or occupation of any 
 person or persons, and no grant of lands so occupied or possessed 
 shall be made, except to the actual occupant or possessor thereof; 
 provided said occupant or possessor, within one year from the passage 
 of this act, shall make application for, and purchase the same. 
 
 § 2. For the further purposes of this act, the Governor is hereby 
 authorized to appoint an additional commissioner of fisheries, who 
 shall be a man of experience in oyster culture, aud who shall be a 
 resipent of Richmond, Queens, Kings or Suffolk counties. 
 
 § 3. Immediately after the passage of this act the Commissioners of 
 Fisheries shall meet at some place, to be designated by them, in the 
 city of New York, for the purpose of making such rules and regulations 
 as shall be deemed necessary as j^reliminary to hearing and granting 
 applications for perpetual franchises for the purj)ose of shell-fish cul- 
 tivation on the lands under the waters of this State mentioned in sec- 
 tion one of this act, suitable for planting and cultivation of shell-fish. 
 After such rules and regulations shall have been agreed upon and for- 
 
94 Repobt of Oyster Investigation 
 
 mulated, tlie said commissioners of fisheries shall pi'oceed to grant 
 franchise for the purpose of shell-fish cultivation, as hereinafter pro- 
 vided. But no such franchise shall be granted until one month's notice 
 of the application for a franchise or frauchises shall have been given 
 by posting in a conspicuous place, in the office of the Shell-Fish Com- 
 missioner, and in the office of the tovpn clerk of the town nearest to the 
 lands api^lied for. 
 
 § 4. No gi'aut shall be made to any person or persons who have not 
 resided in this State at least one 3^ear preceding the date of applica- 
 tion, and no grant shall be made to any person, firm or corjjoration in 
 excess of two hundred and fifty acres, and no person, firm or corpora- 
 tion shall be allowed to hold, at any one time, more than two hundred 
 and fifty acres. 
 
 § 5. When the conditions precedent to the granting of franchises, 
 mentioned in the foregoing sections, have been complied with, the 
 Commissioners of Fisheries are here1)y empowered, in the name and 
 behalf of the people of the State of New York, to grant, by written 
 instruments under their hands and seals, perpetual franchises for the 
 purposes of shell-fish cultivation in the lands applied for under the 
 waters of the State, for the consideration of not less than one dollar 
 per acre, if the lands are unoccupied or unused, and not less than twenty- 
 five cents per acre if the lands are in present use and occupation, and 
 the right to use and occupy said grounds for said purposes shall be 
 and remain in the said grantee, his legal representatives or successors 
 forever; provided only tliat the said grantee, his legal representatives 
 or successors shall actually use and occupy the same for the purpose 
 of shell-fish cultivation, and for no other purpose whatever. And the 
 moneys received for the sale of such franchises shall be paid forthwith 
 into the treasury of this State. 
 
 § G. The franchises thus granted shall be deemed to be personal 
 property, and courts of law and of e([uity shall have power, authority 
 and jurisdiction to determine and enforce the rights of persons, firms 
 or corporations thereto as though such franchises were actually, per- 
 sonal property owned and possessed by such persons, firms or cor- 
 porations, and such franchises may be sold, transferred, assigned or 
 conveyed the same as other ])ersonal property. Immediately after the 
 receipt of the aforesaid instrument of conveyance, the grantee shall 
 at once cause the grounds therein conveyed to be plainly marked out 
 by stakes, buoys or monuments, which stakes, liuoys or monuments 
 shall be continued by said grantee his legal representatives or 
 successors. 
 
AND Shell-Fish CoMMrssiON. 95 
 
 § 7. The said commissioners are hereby authorized to appoint and 
 employ a clerk whose compensation shall not exceed fifteen hundred 
 dollars per annum, which comijensation and the necessary expenses 
 for carrying out the provisions of this act shall be paid by the Treas- 
 urer upon the warrant of the Comptroller, to the order of the said 
 commissioners, upon vouchers to be aj)proved by the Comptroller. 
 The said clerk shall give a bond, to be approved by the Comptroller, 
 in the penal sum of five thousand dollars, for the faithful performance 
 of his duties. 
 
 § 8. The j^rovisions of this act shall not be deemed to limit or inter- 
 fere with the i^owers of the Commissioners of the Land Ofiice, to 
 grant to owners of uplands adjacent to such fisheries any of the lands 
 under the waters of this State as is now j)rovided by law. But in case 
 any grant shall be made by the Commissioners of the Land Ofiice of 
 any land actually occupied and in use under the provisions of this act 
 for the cultivation of shell-fish, such grant by said Commissioners of 
 the Land Office shall be subject to the right of the occupant to occupy 
 such grounds for two years thereafter, for the cultivation and removal 
 of the shell-fish there planted. 
 
 § 9. This act shall not apply to nor be held to effect in any way 
 lands under water owned, controlled or claimed under colonial patents 
 or legislative grants by an}' town or towns, person or persons, in the 
 counties of Suffolk, Queens, Kings and Richmond; lands under the 
 waters of Gardiner's and Peconic bays, ceded by the State to the 
 coimty of Suffolk, pursuant to chapter three hundred and eighty-five 
 of the laws of eighteen hundred and. eighty-five, lands under water in 
 Jamaica bay, lands in the jurisdiction of the towns of Hempstead and 
 Jamaica or in the county of Westchester. 
 
 § 10. The sum of three thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may 
 be necessary, is hereb}^ appropriated out of any moneys in the treasury 
 not otherwise appropriated, payable by the Treasurer on the warrant 
 of the Comptroller to the order of the said commissioners for carrying 
 out the provisions of this act, upon vouchers to be approved by the 
 Comptroller. 
 
 S 11. This act shall take effect immediately. 
 
9(3 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 APPENDIX "D." 
 
 Law Ckeating Office of Oyster Pkotectoe. 
 
 CHAPTEE 300. 
 
 An Act for the jjrotecfcion of the natural oyster beds located in the 
 
 waters of the State of New York. 
 
 Passed May 10, 1886 ; three-tifths being present. 
 
 The People of the State of New York, 7-epresented in Senate and 
 Assembly, do enact as follows : 
 
 Section 1. It shall not be lawful for any i^erson or persons, corpo- 
 ration or corporations, to place, or cause to be placed, in any manner 
 whatsoever, in any waters within the jurisdiction of the State, any 
 sludg-e acid or other refuse matter, resulting from the manufacture, 
 or process of manufacture, or treatment of crude or rtfined material 
 from any oil refinery or oil works, any sugar rehnery or sugar works, 
 or from any gas house, or building or buildings used for the makiiDg 
 of gas, or to deposit in said waters any substance injurious to oyster 
 culture, provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be held 
 to apply to any refuse from the manufacture or handling of crude or 
 refined oil and guano made from menhaden or other oil-bearing fish. 
 
 § 2. It shall not be lawful to throw or cause to be thrown from any 
 boat, scow or vessel whatsoever, into the waters of Long Island sound 
 or into the bays and harbors opening into the same, west of a line 
 drawn from Eaton's Neck, due north to the boundary line bet^v'een 
 New York State, and the State of Connecticut, any cinders, ashes, 
 refuse or garbage. 
 
 § 3. Any person or corporations violating the provisions of either 
 of the foregoing sections of this act shall be adjudged guilty of a 
 misdemeanor. 
 
 § 4. Provides for the appointment of an officer to be called the 
 State oyster protectoi', whose duty it shall be to enforce the pro- 
 visions of this act, under the direction of Mr. Eugene G. Blackford, 
 Commissioner of Fisheries, in charge of oyster investigation. 
 
 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately. 
 
AND SlIELL-FlSH CoJIMLSSION. 97 
 
 APPENDIX "E." 
 
 Rules of the Commissioners of Fisheries. 
 
 In Relation to Granting of Franchises in Lands Under Water for the 
 Purpose of Shell-Fish Cultivation, Adopted Seiitemher 5, 1887. 
 
 First. The commissioners will meet on the first Monday of each 
 month at the office of the commission in the city of New York, for the 
 purpose of hearing and granting applications for franchises. 
 
 Second. Applications for franchises will be recived by the clerk of 
 the commissioners at any time, and the date of the reception will be 
 indorsed at once upon the application. 
 
 Third. Printed forms of application will be furnished by the clerk 
 of the commissioD. 
 
 Fourth. No grant of land will be made in excess of two hundred 
 and fifty acres. 
 
 Fifth. The terms " occupation and use " will be held to mean, in the 
 opinion of the commissioners, at least one year's actual occupation 
 and use in planting and cultivating shell-fish. 
 
 Sixth. Beds of oysters of natural growth will be held to mean per- 
 manent beds, not sporadic beds, of oysters growing naturally in 
 sufficient quantities to be worked profitably. 
 
 Seventh. In making applications, applicants must state on oath, 
 that they believe that the grounds applied for are not already desig- 
 nated as natural beds, or occupied, unless by applicant. That the 
 ai^plicant wishes tlietn for the purpose of cultivating shell-fish, and 
 that the applicant is a resident of the State, and has been for at least 
 one year next j^receding date of apjolication. 
 
 Eighth. Applicants must describe in detail the lands applied for, 
 giving their location, number of acres wanted, etc. 
 
 Ninth. The grants of lands will be made as nearly as possible in 
 accordance with the description given in the applications, but the 
 commissioners will not grant lands bounded by other than by north 
 and east lines except in cases where the shore lines prevent, and in 
 special cases. 
 
 Tenth. Long Island sound will be divided into townships, sections 
 and lots. 
 
 Eleventh. When an application has been made, the •commissioners 
 
 will cause the engineer to designate the vacant sections or lots nearest 
 
 and incuding if possible the plot described, up to the limit of the land 
 
 to be granted in each case. If no objection arises, the lands so desig- 
 
 13 
 
98 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 nated will be £;'ranted and franchises issued upon payment to the clerk 
 of the commissioners, of the proper fees and charges. 
 
 Twelfth. The lands applied for, if granted, will be buoyed or staked 
 out under the direction of the engineer, who will place the owner at 
 each of his respective corners and show him where to drop his buoys 
 or plant his stakes, l)ut in all cases the buoys, ground-tackle and 
 stakes shall be sui:)plied and fui-nished by the grantee or owner of the 
 franchises. 
 
 Thirteenth. After the franchise has been granted the owner will be 
 required to keep the corners of his property distinctly staked or 
 buoyed in accordance with the law; and each corner stake or buoy 
 shall have stamped or otherwise permanently marked upon it a par- 
 ticular number, which number will l)e furnished by the engineer. 
 
 Fdurteeiith. Records of the pcjsition of each stake or buoy at the 
 several corners of the lands granted by the commissioners are on file 
 at this office, and in the event of the loss of any of these stakes or 
 buoys, the owners can have them re-set upon application, and the pay- 
 ment of the actual expenses of re-setting. 
 
 Fifteenth. The charge for surveying shall be twenty-five cents per 
 acre, with ten per cent additional for every corner in excess of four in 
 any one lot, provided no lot shall be surveyed for less than one dollar. 
 
 Sixteenth. Franchises may be sold, transferred, leased or assigned, 
 but no person, lirm or corporation will be allowed to hold in excess 
 of 250 acres. 
 
 Sere/tteenth. All transfers of franchises must be recorded at the 
 office of the commissioners, and a transfer fee of fifty cents will be 
 charged. 
 
 Eighteenth. No franchise will be granted until one mouth's notice 
 of the application for such franchise shall have been given by 
 posting in a conspicuous place in the office of the Shell-Fish Commis- 
 sioner, and in the office of the town clerk of the town nearest the 
 lands applied for. 
 
 Ninteenth. The franchises thus granted shall be deemed to be per- 
 sonal property, and courts of law and of e([uity shall have power and 
 jurisdiction thereto as though such franchises were actually personal 
 property. 
 
 Twentieth. For the purpose of hearing and granting applications for 
 franchises in l;#ids under water, three commissioners shall constitute 
 a quorum of the Board. 
 
 Twerity-fird. The clerk shall give a l>ond in the penal sum of $5,000 
 for the faithful performance of his duties, and the prompt payment by 
 him to the State treasury of all moneys received by him for the 
 sale of franchises. 
 
AND Shell-Fish Commission. 99 
 
 Twenty-second. The accounts of the clerk will be audited at each 
 monthly meeting of the commission, by a committee to be appointed 
 by the president of the commission. 
 
 Tv:enty-third. No grant of lands in present occupation and use shall 
 be made except to the actual occui:)ant and owner thereof, provided 
 said occupant or j^ossessor, within one year from June IG, 1887, shall 
 make application for and purchase the same. 
 
 Twenty-fouiih. All disj)utes as to boundary lines will be referred to 
 the engineer, and the decision of the engineer, if agreed to by the 
 commissioners, will be final. 
 
 Twenty -fifth. "WTienever any grant of land so made shall fail to he 
 occiipied in good faith for the cultivation of shell-fish by the grantee 
 thereof within two years after the date of said grant, the laud so 
 granted shall revert to the State. 
 
 Twenty-sixth. All franchises, except where the land has been in 
 occupation or cultivation, shall be disposed of at public auction to 
 the highest responsible bidder, after two weeks notice of the proposed 
 sale to be posted in the office of the commissioners and to be pviblished 
 once in each week for two weeks in a newspaper j^ublished in the 
 county where the lands lie. 
 
 Amendment to Rules 2G. 
 
 One month's public notice shall be given by posting in the office of 
 the commissioners in the city of New York, and by advertisement in 
 two newspaj^ers, each published iu the county where the lands to be 
 disposed of shall be situated, that on a day to be stated in such notice 
 and within one week from the date of the last publication thereof, 
 sealed bids will be received for grants to be specified by their survey 
 number. 
 
 On a day to be also stated in such notice, all the bids shall be 
 opened by the commissioners, at a meeting of the Board to be held 
 for that purpose. The opening of the bids vaiij be postponed, and in 
 case of a failure to have a quorum of the commission present, shall lie 
 over until the next meeting. 
 
 No bid for a sum of less than one dollar per acre for such lands 
 shall be considered, and the Board shall have discretion to accept 
 such bids as they shall deem for the best public interest, and to reject 
 any and all bids that they shall not deem it good policy to accept. 
 Franchises in conformity to these conditions may then be issued in 
 the manner provided by law. The vote on each proposed grant shall 
 be taken by yeas and nays, which shall be entered upon the journal, 
 and the affirmative vote of a majority of all the members of the com- 
 mission shall be necessary to each grant. 
 
100 Report of Oyster Investtoation 
 
 Tiventy-seventh. The commissioners reserve the right to reject any 
 nnd all bids. 
 
 Twenty-eighth. All objections to the granting of franchises shall be 
 filed with the clerk, and notices of hearing before the commission 
 shall be given to applicants and objectors. 
 
 Twenty -ninth. These regulations may be amended only at a regular 
 meeting of the commission after notices in writing to all the commis- 
 sioners of the proposed amendment. 
 
 APPENDIX "F." 
 
 Form of Application. 
 To the Gominixm>nerf< of Fisheries of the State of New York : 
 
 The application of , a resident of the town 
 
 of in the county of and State 
 
 of New York, respectfully shows; that he has resided in said State 
 more than one year next preceding the date of this application; that 
 the grounds herein described are not now natural oyster beds; and 
 have not been designated according to the provisions of the act here- 
 inafter mentioned as natural' oyster beds; that he wishes and intends 
 to use said grounds for planting and cultivating shell-fish; that he 
 does not own a franchise for oyster cultivation directly or indirectly 
 or indirectly on any grounds under water which with that applied for 
 will exceed 250 acres. 
 
 That he has been in the actual occupation and use of said lands in 
 planting and cultivating shell-fish for at least one year before the date 
 of this application. 
 
 He therefore respectfully rec[uests that said commissioners, pursuant 
 to an act entitled "An act to promote the cultivation of shell-fish," 
 passed by the Legislature of New York, June 16, 1887, will grant him, 
 in the name and behalf of the State of New York, a perpetual franchise 
 
 for planting and cultivating shell-fish, in acres of 
 
 ground, located under the waters of the State, in the town of 
 
 . ., in the State aforesaid, which grounds are more 
 
 particularly l)ounded and described as follows, to wit: 
 
 Dated at , N. Y., this day of A. D. 188. 
 
 Sworn to before me this 
 
 day of .. 188. 
 
 Apjilicant. 
 
AND Shell-Fish Co3niissioN. ] 03 
 
 APPENDIX «G." 
 
 Notice. 
 
 Notice is hereby given tliat , of tlie town 
 
 of , N. Y., has made application to the Gommissiouers of 
 
 Fisheries, State of New Yoi-k, for a perpetual franchise in and to .... 
 acres of lands under the waters of the State, located and described as 
 follows : 
 
 On Monday, . . . . , the Commissioners of Fisheries will 
 
 meet at their office, , New York city, for the purpose of 
 
 hearing and granting applications for j)erpetual franchises, and any 
 objections to the granting of the above mentioned application will 
 then be heard. 
 
 By order of 
 
 THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF FISHERIES. 
 
 APPENDIX "H." 
 
 AFFir)A\T:T OF Posting. 
 Town of 
 
 County of 
 
 being duly sworn, deposes and says, 
 
 that on the day of 188 . . , he posted the notice of the 
 
 application of 
 
 of 
 
 to the Commissioners of Fisheries, State of New York, for franchises 
 in lands under the waters of the State, in the office of the Shell-fish 
 Commissioner, and in the office of the town clerk of the town nearest 
 the lauds apj)lied for, as required by law. 
 
 Sworn to this day of 188 . . 
 
102 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 APPENDIX "I." 
 
 Shell-Fish Commissioner's Certificate. 
 
 New York, , 188.. 
 
 To the Gommissioner^ of Fisheries, State of New York : 
 
 Gentlemen. — I hereby certify that is the 
 
 occupant of the lots described in the application attached, and that 
 the land applied for is not natural growth oyster land and has not 
 been designated by me as such. 
 
 Shell-Fish Gmwiissioner. 
 
 APPENDIX "K." 
 
 Engineer's Certificate. 
 
 New York, ,188... 
 
 To the Commissioners of Fisheries, State of New York : 
 
 Gentlemen. — I hereby certify that the lauds described in sections 
 
 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, in the attached application (No ), of 
 
 of does 
 
 do not aggregate, together with the oyster lands already granted 
 api:)licaut, more than two hundred and fifty acres. 
 
 Remarks : 
 
 Engineer. 
 
 APPENDIX "L." 
 
 Clerk's Certificate. 
 To the Commissioners of Fi>^heries, Slate of New York : 
 
 Gentlemen. — I hereby certify, that no objections have been received 
 to the granting of the application of 
 
 of 
 
 for a franchise in lot in 
 
 Clerk. 
 
AND SlIELL-FlSH CoinilSSION. 103 
 
 APPENDIX "M." 
 
 Indorsement. 
 
 Application No 
 
 Name of applicant 
 
 Address 
 
 Number of acres applied for 
 
 Where located 
 
 Notice, when posted. 
 
 Shell-Fish Commissioner's office , 188 . . 
 
 Town clerk's office , 188 . .. 
 
 Character of land 
 
 Report of Shell-Fish Commissioner 
 
 Report of engineer 
 
 Remarks by clerk . 
 
 APPENDIX "N. " 
 Form of Franchise. 
 
 Whereas, 
 
 resident of the State of New York, ha , pursuant to an act entitled 
 " An Act to promote and protect the cultivation of shell-fish, etc." 
 passed by the Legislature June 16, 1887, made application to the 
 Commissioners of Fisheries of the State of New York for a grant of a 
 perpetual franchise for planting and cultivating shell-fish in the 
 grounds hereinafter bounded and described, wherein he represent 
 that he ha resided in the State of New York more than one year next 
 preceding the date of said application ; that the said grounds are not 
 natural oyster beds, and have not been set apart, reserved or desig- 
 nated, accofding to the provisions of the said act, as natural oyster 
 beds; and that the said lands have been in actual occapation and use 
 in planting and cultivating shell-fish for at least one year before the 
 date of application, that he wish and intend to use said grounds 
 for planting and cultivating shell-fish, which application is dated the 
 day of A. D., 188 , . , and was 
 
104 Report of Oyster Investigation 
 
 filed with the clerk of said commissioners on the day 
 
 of A. D., 188 . . , stating the name and residence of 
 
 said applicant and the location, area and description of the grounds 
 applied for, and was j^osted in a conspicuous place in the office of the 
 Shell Commissioner, and also in the office of the town clei'k of the 
 town nearest to the lands applied for, and all the other rules and 
 regulations of the Fishery Commission, made in pursuance of the 
 aboved mentioned act have been fully complied with; and 
 
 Whereas, No valid objections having been made thereto, and the 
 area of said grounds not being, in the opinion of the commissioners, 
 of unreasonable extent, the said grounds having been surveyed, 
 located and delineated on the map of the commissioners; the actual 
 
 cost of surveying and mapping said grounds amounted to . . 
 
 dollars and the price of said grounds at per acre, 
 
 amounting to dollars, having been paid by said 
 
 applicant, to the commissioners for the benefit of the State of New 
 York; now, therefore, 
 
 Know all Men by these Presents, That the State of New York, 
 acting by and through the Commissioners of Fisheries, in considera- 
 tion of the premises and especially for the sum last above-mentioned, 
 duly received from said applicant, hath given and granted, and by 
 
 these presents doth give and grant unto the said applicant , and 
 
 to .... legal representatives forever, a perpetual franchise for the 
 purposes of shell-fish cultivation in the lands applied for under the 
 
 waters of this State, consisting of acres, bounded 
 
 and described as follows, that is to say: 
 
 Tohaveandtohold the same unto the said grantee and legal 
 
 representatives or successors, forever; provided, that said grantee shall 
 at once cause the said grounds to be plainly marked by stakes, boiiys, 
 ranges or moniiments, which stakes, bouys, ranges or monuments shall 
 
 be continued by the said grantee and legal representatives; 
 
 and provided further, that the grantee or holder of said grounds 
 shall actually use and occupy the same for the purposes named in good 
 faith and for no other purpose, and that this grand is accepted by said 
 grantee subject to all the provisions of the act aforesaid; and pro- 
 vided further, that the said grantee does not now and shall not in 
 future accpiire more than 250 acres of land for shell-fish cultivation. 
 And it is stipulated, conditioned and agreed that if the grantee herein 
 shall cease to actually use and occupy the premises hei-eby granted for 
 shell-fish cultivation, or shall use them for any other purpose what- 
 
AND Shell-Fish Coj\nnssioN. J05 
 
 ever; or now owns or shall hereafter acquire lauds under the act 
 aforesaid, which together with the lands hereby granted, shall be in 
 excess of 250 acres, or shall have been guilty of any misrej)resentation 
 in the acquisition of this grant, then this grant shall be void, and the 
 lands herein described shall forthwith revert to the State of New 
 York. In case any dispute as to the boundaries of the land hereby 
 granted shall arise, it shall be determined by the engineer of the 
 Fishery Commission. 
 
 In Witness Whereof, the Commissioners of Fisheries, in behalf of 
 the State of New York, by virtue of the authority vested in them by 
 
 by said act, have hereto set their hands and seals this day 
 
 of A. D., 188.... 
 
 Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of 
 
 Grant of shell-lish franchise to , dated . . . . 
 
 188 .... Recorded , 188 . . . . , in book , page 
 
 acres in the town of 
 
 APPENDIX "O." 
 
 Assignment. 
 
 Know all Men by these Presents, That of the town of , 
 
 county of and State of New York, in consideration of the sum 
 
 of dollars received to full satisfaction 
 
 ha. . . . sold, assigned and conveyed, and by these presents 
 
 do ... . sell, assign, and convey to of the 
 
 town of and State of New York, all such right, title and 
 
 interest as have or ought to have in and to the perpetual 
 
 franchise for planting and cultivating shell-fish in the following- 
 described grounds, to wit : 
 
 being the same franchise granted to of the 
 
 town of , in the county of and 
 
 State of New York, by the Commissioners of Fisheries of New York 
 
 by grant dated the day of A. D., 188 . . , 
 
 and recorded in the office of the Commissioners of Fisheries aforesaid, 
 
 in book , page To have and to hold the same 
 
 unto the said assignee and legal representatives forever, 
 
 subject nevertheless to all the conditions, reservations, stipulations 
 and provisions in said grant of said commissioners contained and also 
 14 
 
106 (fYSTER Investigation ANB Shell-Fish Commission. 
 
 of the act entitled, " An act to promote and protect the cultivation of 
 shell-fish, etc.," passed by the Legislature of the State of New York, 
 June 16, 1887, and that the franchise shall be forfeited if more than 
 250 acres are held at one time. 
 
 In witness whereof, have hereunto set hand 
 
 and seal this day of , A. D., 188 . . . 
 
 Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of 
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK^ 
 
 County of 
 
 On the day of , 18 . . . , 
 
 personally appeared before me 
 
 to be known to be the person described in and who executed the 
 foregoing statement and acknowledged that he executed the same. 
 
 [Indorsed] . Assignment to 
 
 Dated , 18 . . . Recorded , 18 . . . , in book , 
 
 page 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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