OYSTER CULTURE IN ENGLAND. 369 



that every oyster produced about a million of these free- 

 swimming chicks or children, he can easily understand 

 why they should be reared with care. Of their growth, his 



unaided eye has made him tolerably cognisant 



It is of the spat in its microscopic stage that the dredger, 

 really concerned in knowing his business, knew little, and 

 needed to know much. He has been taught the value of 

 such knowledge, and is already convinced, or at least open 

 to conviction, that, inasmuch as oysters continue spatting 

 as late as October, it would be well to prolong the close 

 season by a full four weeks. Regarding the food of the 

 oyster, he has always laughed at the absurd cockney theory 

 touching oatmeal as a fattener. When reposing on the 

 bottom, the oyster should lie on the convex shell ; of 

 course the helpless creature has to remain in the position 

 it fell into when cast overboard ; it may have fallen on the 

 convex shell and turned over by the action of the water or 

 scouring of the dredge, &c. After being landed, and 

 deprived of the infusorial food which is constantly sup- 

 plied to him while he remains stationary below the sea, it 

 is wise to keep him in this position, that is, with his deep 

 shell downwards, and to cover him and any number of his 

 companions with a cloth, to keep away all draughts of air. 

 The oyster then feeds for two or three days on the liquor 

 shut within his shell. To give him meal, or mealy water, 

 is to hasten his end. When an oyster is going to die, he 

 grows fat, and meal both fattens and kills him." 



As an illustration of the above extract, the following 

 quotation from the Standard, March 19, 1885, will prove 

 interesting and instructive : 



; There is good news for oyster-eaters, as authorities 

 agree that next season will witness a very great reduction 

 in the price of the delicious mollusc. Indeed, the prices 



