OYSTER CULTURE IN GERMANY. 649 



down to the bottom, and one can thus easily tell whether 

 the bottom is composed of soft mud or pure sand, or 

 whether it is covered with shells. 



The dredge used by the oyster-men . . . weighs 

 from 50 to 60 pounds. 



The older oyster-dredgers know the position of all the 

 oyster-beds with great precision, and they guide their ves- 

 sels to the desired places by reckonings from high-lying 

 points of the coast and islands, from light-houses, churches, 

 windmills, and houses. Their vessels are yacht-like, with 

 a capacity of from three to six tons. Each one generally 

 carries two sailors, in addition to the owner. 



Upon the Schleswig-Holstein banks there are fourteen 

 vessels engaged in the oyster business. 



. . . . Generally the net (or dredge) is allowed to 

 drag from five to ten minutes ; then it is drawn up by two 

 or three men, and the entire contents of the bag emptied 



upon the deck From this heterogeneous heap 



all the matured oysters are now picked out. As they pass 

 singly through the hands of the fishermen, the coarsest of 

 the foreign material is cut and scraped from the shells 

 with a knife, and then the oysters are thrown into baskets. 

 In these they are shaken about, in order to get off any 

 material which has escaped the knife. Ropes are then 

 fastened around the baskets, which are put overboard, and 

 raised and lowered in the sea until all dirt is completely 

 washed from the oysters. They are now for the first time 

 in the condition in which they appear in commerce. 

 Despite these manifold cleansings, many oysters, when 

 they are exposed for sale, are covered with dead and living 

 animals, ana the peculiar odour which oysters have when 

 carried into the interior, arises from the death and decay 

 of the organic material upon the outside of the shells, and 



