Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 January 1884 — Sponges. [ARTICLE]

Sponges.

Sponge culture in the United States is likely to present some definite results. Among the exhibits to be sent to England will be a collection of sponges due to artificial culture. The modus operandi is simplicity itself. ' A good-sized sponge is cut into fragments and attached to stones. In a certain time the sponge holds to its new base and grows. This method has been tried in the Mediterranean, but so far with indifferent success. Italian sponge fishermen were opposed to this artificial culture, and destroyed the cuttings. The growth of the sponge, as is quite natural, seems to be more rapid in tideways, because the food on which the sponge lives and thrives is conveyed to it under these conditions in larger quantities.* The sponges which will be exhibited were grown in Key West, and in quite shallow water. For the culture of sponges, which is quite as feasible an enterprise as that of the qvster, it will be, however, necessary that some legislative enactments shall be enforced on the Floridian coasts, giving protection to those who engage in this novel business. It is not generally known that for excellence the natural sponges grown on the Floida coast are among the best in the market. Though not so delicate in structure as the Mediterranean sponge*, they are much more lasting. Methods of preparing sponges seem, however, to be very crude and primitive, and there is no doubt that with more scientific methods the quality of sponges could be improved.