CULTIVATION OF MARINE ANIMALS IN JAPAN 725 



one year can thus be depended on to supply the market for five 

 years. 



The three-year-old shells are exported in the fresh condition to 

 China, where they are very much valued, while the four-year-old 

 and the older are consumed in Japan. 



Another species of Area (A. subcrenata Lischke) is cultivated 

 more or less in the same Kojima Bay, but this shell flourishes best 

 in deeper waters which are not exposed at low tide and where sea- 

 weeds are growing. Such a condition is found in Nakano-Umi near 

 Matsui, Province Isumo, on the Japan Sea side, where the ark-shell 

 has now been cultivated for over a hundred years. The system of 

 culture is that of rotary crops, giving fine results. The area under 

 cultivation is at the present day about 2631 acres. 



The Razor Clam, " Agemaki ' (Solecurtus constricta Lamarck) 



Reference has been made to a peculiar system of oyster-culture 

 begun lately in the mouth of the Suminouye River in Ariake Bay. 

 The shores of the same bay have extensive mud-flats exposed more 

 or less at low tide, and here the cultivation of two other animals 

 has gradually been developed, "agemaki" (Solecurtus constricta}, 

 a shell somewhat resembling razor shells, and barnacles (Balanus sp.). 



The first of these is dried and exported to China. The trade began 

 in 1875, and increased so rapidly that by 1882-83 the supply was not 

 equal to the demand, and, owing to the consequent overfishing, the 

 shells caught were becoming smaller and smaller. To remedy this 

 state of things, the Department of Agriculture and Commerce 

 established there an experiment station for the cultivation of the 

 shell, and one Mr. Negishi, belonging to the district, one year put in, 

 for trial, about 135 bushels of the shell in the tide-flats, and found 

 that these had increased by the following year to 820 bushels, thus 

 thoroughly demonstrating the practicability of the culture. From 

 this beginning the industry increased so rapidly that by 1896 in 

 this part of the bay alone over 700 acres 1 were under cultivation, 

 and about 50,000 bushels of seed-shells were collected, and 112,845 

 bushels sold, fetching 79,329 yen. The cultivation has since extended 

 to other parts of Ariake Bay, and promises to become more and 

 more important. 



The method of culture is very simple. The young are collected all 

 over Ariake Bay in July and August of each year. They are then 

 between four and five centimeters in length, and are dug out by 

 spades and hands and then transplanted to culture-grounds, care 

 being taken to protect them from the sun's rays during the passage. 



1 The calculation of areas on the sea-bottom in Japan is verv rough, and only 

 approximate. As a general thing, it falls far short of the actualities. 



