OYSTER CULTURE IN ENGLAND. 429 



LANGSTON FISHERY ORDER. 

 20, Onslow Gardens, i bth January, 1877. 



Sir, I have the honour to inform you that, in accord- 

 ance with your instructions dated the i8th November, 

 1876, I inspected, on the 2ist December last, the several 

 oyster fishery granted to the South of England Oyster 

 Company, under "The Langston Fishery Order, 1869." 



The South of England Company hold the portion of 

 Langston Channel granted by the Order, together with the 

 bed and foreshore of parts of two small channels in Chi- 

 chester Harbour, also affected by the Order, as part only of 

 a large area belonging to them in various places, under 

 different titles, and devoted according to the character of 

 the ground to the several processes of oyster culture. In 

 the ordinary course of their business, oysters, after being 

 bred in the tanks at Hayling, are transferred during the 

 subsequent spring to ponds upon the neighbouring fore- 

 shore, whence, in the next season, they are transferred to 

 growing ponds or to the Langston Channel, where they 

 remain until they are ready to be carried to Sharpfleet, to 

 enter upon the final stage of fattening. The Langston 

 Channel is thus looked upon chiefly as a place affording 

 room for the deposit of oysters during a certain stage of 

 growth, and it was with a view to possess a sufficient area 

 for this purpose that the Company applied for their Order. 

 Under these circumstances the ground may be considered 

 to be properly cultivated if it is occupied and is in a fairly 

 clean condition. This maybe said to be the case. About 

 1,700,000 oysters inhabit the middle and lower end. The 

 higher portion is untenanted ; but it is said, probably 

 with truth, that the softness of the mud of which its bottom 

 consists renders it unfit for cultivation. The bed of the 



