Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 188, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1915 — FARMING FOR TERRAPIN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARMING FOR TERRAPIN

By A. D. HART

• A few years ago, it looked as if the famous diamond back terrapin was doomed to extermination. The supply was rapidly decreasing and the price was becoming prohibitive. Then the experts of the United States bureau of fisheries began their investigations, and as a result of a number of years of study and experiments, a profitable industry has been saved to the South and another source of food supply saved from extinction. This valuable work has been carried on largely at the laboratory of the bureau of fisheries at Beaufort, N. C, It was begun in 1909 with the establishment of a small pound on the shore of an Island in the harbor, in which 65 mature terrapin were placed. In building the pond a very favorable location was obtained, containing the greatest variety of natural environment, Including dry sandy ground, always above water, suitable for crawling and’iaying, grassy ground usually above water, farther down a muddy tidewater marsh, and still farther a soft muddy bottom covered with never less than two feet of constantly changing salt water, with the rise and fall of the tide. During the past five years the pound has been enlarged , from time. to time, to accommodate the ever-increasing family of little terrapin. A house, feet in size, for use in winter, has also been built, with glass side facing the south. Here many of the young are kept in wooden tanks with sloping bottoms, the lower end containing two or three inches of water. These terrapin are fed twice a week, with fish, fresh or salted, while others of the same hatching are allowed to hibernate in certain sections of the pound, as they would do under natural conditions. / From among the first hatchings of 1909 a few have attained a growth of live inches, measuring along the plastron, or lower shell These were turned loose during the past summer among the older ones in the general branding ground. From the hatch of

JL9IO, 295 young were secured; 420 in 1911, and 960 in 1912. With the close of the breeding season of 1913, 1,450 little ones were taken from the hatchery. As in former years these have been distributed to smaller compartments containing salt water and sand. By protecting the young in this way a very large percentage are saved that, under natural conditions- in a wild state, would have been destroyed, being preyed upon, especially during the first year — when their shells are sost —by all manner of marsh fowl, as well as by rats, crows, mink, hogs, crabs, etc. Information furnished the bureau by fishermen, netters, shell fishermen, terrapin hunters —those who make their living from these and kindred occupations, and who are always on the lookout for the highly prized terrapin, confirm the statement that it is exceedingly rare to find a diamond back terrapin under two years of age 4n a wild state. Owing to their defenselessness during the first and second years, it is fair to assume that a greater percentage are destroyed than survive. In captivity the records of the laboratory show that 96 per cent of the young are saved. Previous to the season of 1913 all terrapin hatched on the laboratory grounds had been from native stock 1 taken in the immediate vicinity of Beaufort. For experimental purposes, during the late summer and fall of 1912, over one hundred adults from widely different sections of the country were added, some coming from the Chesapeake and many large ones from Texas. Among the latter is one female measuring more than eight inches on the lower shell. The addition of this stock accounts sos the great increase over former years In the number of young already taken from the hatching beds. The methods employed by the government have necessarily been along the slow and tedious road of research, investigation and experiment, until the life history and habits of the animals have

been learned. It then became possible to formulate Plaft ß for propagation and cultivation df the species under consideration. By the addition of the new stock, a new terrapin variety has been produced. On emerging from its sandy bed one day in August last, the newcomer proved to be a pink-eyed albino, with upper and lower shells, head, feet and tail a pure white. It’s a wise terrapin that knows its own mother, and all that the officials know about it is that it came from the beds containing the mixed stock. Encouraged by the government’s successful experiments In raising diamond backs, a company- has recently been incorporated in Beaufort, N. C., for a similar purpose. * A short front near the terminus of the Inland Waterway canal, containing about four acres, was obtained, and this was inclosed on three sides by concrete walls. The water front is 340 feet in length, and the depths of the grounds 190 feet Within the inclosure are three - separate pounds, with ample -wire grating on the outer side to insure pure and constantly changing salt water with the tide. Since the completion of these pounds, they have been stocked with 3,200 terrapin. Eleven hundred of these are mature females of laying size and agdf the remainder being from two inches ‘to five Inches in length. These terrapin have been purchased from time to time, many of them out of season by special permit from the state authorities, for breeding purposes and to encourage propagation. It is interesting to learn that 820 young were taken from the hatching beds during the past season. Pursuing the same policy .adopted at the government hatchery, this Company allows the old stock to hibernate, while the young are warmly housed and fed. It has been noted at the government pounds that hibernation usually begins about October 20. This, however, is not a hard and fast rule,, as many of the older ones are seen

during warm days later in the fall, crawling lazily around, even after they have been for a time in their winter quarters. Another fact in connection with the artificial raising of terrapin is interesting. Whereas the average number of eggs during a season from one female in the natural state has been eight, the females in the government hatchery have averaged fourteen eggs each. It is well known that turtles of "all species can exist for a long time on very little food if -forced to do so. By being well fed and well cared for, not only a larger number of eggs are obtained, but it is found that they oftqn make a double laying; this is especially the case in the Carolinas, where the temperature and the water remain warm much longer than in waters farther north. It will be recognized that, in a private enterprise of this character, to insure success and permanency, abso lute cleanliness is imperative, for it will be seen from the government researches that the natural habitat of the terrapin is on the open, tide-swept marshes, far removed from anything of an unsanitary nature. Every thoughtful citizen will appreciate the fact that broad scientific methods, heretofore used on land rather than on sea, are to be employed to enable us to realize from the water an improved food supply. The waters can be farmed almost as systematically as the land. Man has been farming the land for 5,000 years. Now, largely through the intelligent administration of the bureau of fisheries, coastwise residents of the United States are beginning to discover how to promote Increase of organized life In the adjacent waters. That this can be accomplished by Intelligently directed effort is no longer a matter of theory. Not only through artificial aids in propagation, but a properly arranged protective system for the young, almost every fish that swims,- or that lives in a shell, can be made more abundant.