CONSERVATION OF DEEP SEA BEDS. 1047 



have dredged for oysters when the sea was running so high 

 that they could only work one dredge at each extreme end 

 of the boat, as they were rising and falling so much that 

 each dredge only worked alternately with the other. Even 

 then they used to bring back sufficient to pay them better 

 than a month's more honest work on their own grounds. 

 But those beds off Granville exist no longer, and a French 

 Government steamer lies there now to protect the Reserve 

 beds off Point de Champeaux, and the Granville and 

 Cancale beds farther off. We mentioned the subject to 

 endeavour to prove that ivhere oysters are plentiful, fishermen 

 will soon find boats and means to work for them. 



As to " Dredging during the prevalence of winds 

 from unfavourable quarters," we respectfully venture to 

 submit these remarks to those who think, with the Royal 

 Commission of 1866, that "but little skill is required in 

 working the dredge " (page 7, Appendix of their Report), 

 and to inspectors who examine grounds, and see not what 

 there is to be seen, but what the fishermen please to show 

 them ! 



To render our meaning clearer, let us put a supposi- 

 titious case : Supposing we are the managing men of a 

 company whose ground is going to be inspected by a gen- 

 tleman who, however clever as a scientist and unbiassed 

 as a judge, has no practical knowledge as a dredger or a 

 seaman. If we wish to show our ground at the best, we 

 take him to those parts of it where we can work the 

 dredges along the " stream ' of the oysters ; if we, how- 

 ever, wish to show but few oysters, we would take him to a 

 part of our grounds where the wind would compel us to 

 work across the " stream ; ' : or perhaps, if less honest still, 

 we would by a very little manipulation of the dredge, that 

 would be unobservable to any but a practised dredgerman, 



