37 
 
 
LOUISIANA CONSERVATION REVIEW 
 
 
POSSIBILITIES OF OYSTER CULTURE ON THE 
               PACIFIC COAST 
 
           (Continued from Page 15) 
clean shells on the ground to serve as cultch, or 
solid foundation on which the larvae can set. The 
growers estimate the time of setting on the basis 
of past experience, and sometimes they obtain 
abundant spat; equally often the reason is a fail- 
ure in this respect. 
   If the shells are put into the water too early 
they become slimy and covered with silt, and are 
unfavorable as cultch. If the oystermen wait too 
long their efforts result in failure. What is 
needed, is a method of determining in advance 
when the set is to occur, and this is the major 
aim of the investigation. 
    It was estimated that if as few as two larvae 
 in every 1,000,000 produced set and reach ma- 
 turity the crop will remain constant from year 
 to year. All the others are lost. It is not unreason- 
 able to suppose that more than this number may 
 be caught by using more efficient methods. 
    During the Summer of 1931, in Oyster Bay, 
 near Olympia, the oystermen planted shells early 
 in June, and caught a good set during the follow- 
 ing  two  weeks. Our    experiments  extended 
 throughout the summer and showed that the pe- 
 riod of most profuse setting was from the end 
 of July until the end of August. 
    If the oystermen had planted their shells at 
 the end of July they would have caught 15 times 
 as many spat. That is, in four years, when these 
 spat reach market size, their crop would be 15 
 times as great if they had known in advance what 
 we know now. 
    Our studies are designed to determine what 
 natural factors, such as weather, currents, salin- 
 ity and temperature of the water, constitute fa- 
 vorable setting conditions. The tremendous pos- 
 sible crop is being wasted only because we do not 
 know when setting is to take place. 
    Egg crate fillers, made of cardboard and 
 thinly coated with cement, have proven to be ex- 
 cellent cultch. These are scattered over the 
 grounds and many spat are caught on them. The 
 partitions of the filler stand up vertically from 
 the bottom. 
    At our laboratory a modification of this 
 method has been developed which provides a large 
 amount of horizontal surface because of the fact 
 that oyster larvae tend to set on under surfaces. 
 The new method was shown last summer to be 
 three times as effective as the standard filler, thus 
 opening the way to an increase in the crop by 
 three times at little if any increase in cost. 
 
 
   Oyster larvae swim and are washed about by 
the tides, and if they can not come into contact 
with a hard surface they are lost. Experiments 
were made in which shells in wire baskets were 
suspended from floats anchored in the channels 
some distance from the oyster grounds. Those 
shells caught more spat than were obtained even 
on the best seed beds. 
   It was also found in these tests that little 
setting occurred at the very surface of the water; 
the maximum set took place at a depth of 15 to 
20 inches below the surface, and diminishing 
gradually with increasing depth. The possibility 
of collecting spat commercially in this manner is 
suggested as a further means of increasing the 
crop of oysters. 
    Because of the methods which are being de- 
veloped and the large amount of scientific data 
being collected, we have every confidence that the 
Olympia oyster industry is at the beginning of a 
period of great progress. This oyster is a native 
of the United States, of unexcelled quality, and 
as a valuable natural resource deserves vigorous 
measures for its conservation. 
 
OCCURRENCE OF THE WILD TURKEY IN 
                 LOUISIANA 
 
           (Continued from page 9) 
 Conservation in preventing forest fires on the 
 cut-over and timbered lands of the state. Pro- 
 tected forests not only mean a timber crop, but 
 also create a natural refuge and habitat for the 
 propagation of wild turkey and all other bird 
 and animal life. 
    The Department of Conservation, through its 
 Wild Life Division, is anxious to co-operate with 
 the landowners of the state in protecting the wild 
 turkey. It is further planned by this Division 
 to breed stock at its breeding farm and release 
 these turkeys in such areas where the landowners 
 will assist the Department in creating sanctuaries 
 on their lands, so that these birds can increase. 
    The plan for this development would neces- 
 sitate the landowner dedicating certain portions 
 of his land for a sanctuary for a period of years; 
 the birds not to be molested while in these sanc- 
 tuaries and the public being allowed to shoot such 
 birds as left the sanctuaries for adjacent areas 
 during the hunting season. 
    The Department of Conservation can only go 
 so far in the protection and development of the 
 turkeys and it is essential that all sportsmen of 
 the state, as well as citizens interested in our 
 resources, co-operate and assist in reducing the 
 law violations as much as possible.