394 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



bringing fresh portions of the ground under cultivation, 

 and in reclaiming for ostracultural purposes those lying 

 between low-water mark of neap and low-water mark of 

 spring tides. An additional 15 acres of such foreshore 

 have been transformed by cleaning, laying down culsh, 

 &c. from mudbank into excellent oyster ground ; making, 

 with the 15 acres of similar foreshore previously reclaimed, 

 and some 270 acres of ordinary sea-bottom, a total of 

 about 300 acres of oyster ground now in cultivation. The 

 area of the entire fishery is about 500 acres. 



At the time of my last inspection, no oysters had been 

 actually sent to market, but during the last few weeks the 

 Company have begun supplying them, and the price which 

 the oysters have realised proves the high quality of the 

 fishery as a fattening ground. 



Its breeding capacities have also been confirmed in a 

 marked manner by the results of the past season, as will be 

 gathered from the fact that, in a single haul of the dredge, 

 I obtained 100 brood and 153 spat upon ground which, 

 until the establishment of the present Company, was all 

 but barren. On this ground, in 1867, I obtained 148 

 oysters, brood and spat, in 16 hauls, or about 9 per haul ; 

 in 1864, before the establishment of the Company, 38 

 oysters were obtained in 150 hauls, or about one in every 

 four hauls. The present produce of the ground, therefore, 

 as compared with 1864, stands in the relation of nearly 

 1000 to one. 



The relations of the Company with the neighbouring 

 dredgermen continue satisfactory, and no prosecution for 

 poaching has up to the present time been instituted. 



Since my last visit, the Company have constructed 16 

 oyster-pits, of about 40 feet by 20 feet, above low-water 

 mark, for storing their produce during winter, and about 



