ARTIFICIAL OYSTER CULTURE. Iliy 



That there are discouragements to oyster-breeding is 

 true, and it is only just to tell what those discouragements 

 are. A company certainly lost a great deal of money in 

 Ireland in trying the experiment. Gentlemen have also on 

 the west coast of Scotland had melancholy experience that 

 even in places where old beds existed, oysters will 

 apparently now no longer thrive. The enterprising cultiva- 

 tor has tried Portuguese oysters, the American kinds, as 

 well as those native to the west coast waters, and has 

 failed to get good results, for all which the bad seasons, 

 and the cold summers are blamed. 



. . . . The mere laying down for fattening will 

 probably be the safest thing to try for the present. But 

 the first requisite to prompt people to do this is to afford 

 by law good protection, and that the protection order also 

 be issued at a fee of \, instead of ^35 as at present. 

 Experiment can alone show why it is that disappointment 

 has often dogged the steps of the British oyster-grower, 

 and experiments will not be made if the government per- 

 sists in exacting so heavy a fee as that now demanded for 

 protection against the freebooters, who call themselves 

 free-fishermen. 



And all this is borne with phlegmatic patience and 

 timid murmurs at " high prices," but nothing more save 

 milk-and-water remonstrances few and far between of 

 the Press. The fear of losing literary caste in overstepping 

 the borders of newspaper decorum, magazine prestige, or 

 review reputation. the dread of offending the Legislature 

 and " Society," the horror of being ostracized for indul- 

 ging in " Radical vituperation ' deters, and has deterred 

 many an Editor from doing his duty. 



Of course there are a few exceptions, and from among 

 these (outside the Editorial class) we cannot otherwise 



