6o 



which he takes well recognized precautions ; danger 

 from the others, to the culturist who gives adequate 

 attention to his farm, is automatically eliminated, although 

 they may be rampant and spell ruin to him who slackens 

 in assiduity. 



(g) Protective devices against enemies. 



Permanent protective devices are confined almost 

 entirely to secure comparative immunity from the depre- 

 dations of fishes and crabs. Against the former, two 

 systems of defence are employed either separately 

 or, more usually, in combination. The principal and 

 universally adopted is that of protecting the park with 

 a tall and very closely planted hedge or palisade of pine 

 branches. These tall branches aie implanted in the soil 

 at intervals apart of i^ to 4 inches and vary in height 

 from 8 to 12 feet (PI. IV., fig. 15). No park is complete 

 without such a palisade either entirely surrounding it in 

 the case of one situated on a fiat environed by water 

 at low tide or only on the seaward margin if it be situated 

 on the littoral of the mainland. The tall branches, 

 pignots, should be long enough to reach the surface at 

 high tide, so that predatory oyster-eating fishes may 

 either be scared away or prevented entry if they make 

 the attempt. In point of fact many do find admission 

 usually through gaps in the fence where the stakes have 

 been broken or carried away during rough weather. 

 Those that do so enter as a rule pay the penalty with 

 their lives, the parkers finding them stranded or impri- 

 soned on the recession of the tide. Several rays were 

 so seen on the day I inspected the parks near Cape 

 Ferret and I was informed that the parkers often leave 

 the dead bodies among the oysters in the belief that this 

 scares other fish away. 



The second system of defence against fishes, that of 

 studding the ground with pointed stakes, is usually 

 practised in conjunction with the first but either may be 

 used separately and singly. The stakes used are sticks 



