420 OYSTERS, AND ALL AHOUT THEM. 



whatever extent they choose, subject only to the restriction 

 of a close time from May to September. When the 

 oysters are brought into Newhaven, they are tested with a 

 two-inch ring by an inspector appointed by the Corpora- 

 tion, and those which pass through it are replaced on the 

 beds. The restriction is, however, almost, if not wholly 

 valueless. No officer of the Corporation goes upon the 

 beds, and there is consequently no means of ascertaining 

 whether brood and small oysters are taken for sale to the 

 fishing ports on the north side of the Forth. This was 

 done to a large extent in former years ; and if the practice 

 has now ceased, as is supposed to be the case, the reason 

 is to be looked for solely in the scarcity of brood. In 

 itself, moreover, the two-inch test is illusory as a preserva- 

 tive measure. The oysters in the united fisheries gener- 

 ally grow to a size of two inches in two years, and to three 

 inches in twelve months more, before which time they do 

 not spat. With the use of a two-inch ring all such oysters 

 must be taken from the ground before they have had an 

 opportunity of spatting ; and though a certain number of 

 dwarfed oyster% exist, which seem to have had their growth 

 stopped by the constant abrasion of their edges in being 

 rolled about on exposed grounds, the proportion which 

 they bear in number to the larger oysters is in no way suf- 

 ficient to justify any hope that a stock could be kept upon 

 the ground through the spat yielded by them, even if the 

 two-inch ring were not probably, as a matter of fact, small 

 enough to prevent any of them from being returned to the 

 beds. The dwarfed oysters, moreover, occur only in cer- 

 tain places. 



The portion of the ground rented by Mr. Anderson 

 has been almost destitute of oysters since a time which 

 seems to be earlier than the date of the Order. 



