1052 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



2.V-inch ring. Inside they were thin and watery, whilst the 

 shell was so fragile that the outer shoots could be easily 

 broken by slight pressure between the finger and thumb, 

 and in some cases the shells were so friable that it was 

 impossible to open the oyster in the usual manner. 



REMOVAL ON CULCH FROM PUBLIC GROUNDS. 



The removal of culch from oyster beds is extremely 

 prejudicial, and in many parts of England complaints are 

 loudly made that private owners remove culch from the 

 public grounds on to their own layings. If these complaints 

 are well founded, such a detrimental practice should be 

 made illegal, and punishable by heavy fine. 



It would be far wiser if, instead of putting the old 

 shells into the dust-bin, or burning them for lime, they were 

 collected and returned to the beds ; but whilst people can 

 get them on public grounds for nothing, they will not pay 

 for the trouble of collection even by the dust contractors. 

 In this respect the French, in some places, are even behind 

 us, for we have seen their dredging boats at Cancale and 

 Granville unload shingle, culch, brood, half-ware and ware, 

 all mixed together, and the lots sold on the beach by auc- 

 tion just as they stand ; the practised eye of the buyer 

 detecting whether there is more culch, &c., than oysters, 

 or vice versa. The young brood may be laid down to grow 

 and fatten or die, as the case may be, but actual harm is done 

 to an oyster-bed by every old shell that is removed. On 

 deep-sea beds there are often large detached stones ; a 

 mistake that dredgermen always make is that when, after a 

 t>-ood deal of difficulty, one of these " small Gibraltars" is 



o * ' 



hove up, overboard again it goes ! on to the same ground, 

 to be probably the cause of similar hard work, and perhaps 



