412 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



them, and that even when they were visible it was impos- 

 sible to identify them, as the numbers on their sails and 

 hulls were smeared over with mud. I informed the 

 dredgermen of the accusation which had been brought 

 against them, and I received from one of the most promi- 

 nent of them an implied acknowledgment that it is to a 

 certain extent true, in the remark that " there would have 

 been no poaching if the dredgermen had not been " pre- 

 vented from catching shrimps along shore." It was, 

 however, denied that the poaching was frequent or serious. 

 The Merchants' Company's fishery forms part of the 

 Ensworth Channel, and is interposed between two portions 

 of the dredgermen's grounds. Before either Order was 

 granted, there is every reason to believe that the two grounds 

 were in an identical condition ; but in 1871, when that now 

 belonging to the dredgermen was still uncultivated, Mr. 

 Pennell reports that the Merchants' Company's ground was 

 cleaned, cultched, and ready to receive spat, should any fall. 

 374,000 oysters, of which half were full grown, had also 

 been laid down ; and in that year the best fall of spat took 

 place which has been known for a considerable time. 

 Nevertheless, while 596,000 oysters were laid down in the 

 Merchants' Company's fishery, from 1870 to 1874, the sale 

 of 510,000 oysters from 1870 to 1875 left it very sparsely 

 tenanted in the beginning of 1876. On the other hand, 

 the dredgermen's ground, into which no oysters were 

 imported until 20,000 were laid down in 1875, is said to 

 have afforded crops which continually increased until 1876, 

 and amounted altogether to 818,890 oysters. Considering 

 the state in which the latter ground was at the date of Mr. 

 Pennell's report of 1871, it is remarkable that so great an 

 increase should have occurred within it, while that belong- 

 ing to the Merchants' Company, with better chances of 



