OUR SEA FISHERIES. 221 



A suitable locality having been chosen and obtained, 

 the cost of planting and preserving an oyster-bed 

 is small when contrasted with the enormous profits 

 reaped from it. One of the worst foes that oyster- 

 bed proprietors have to dread is frost, which de- 

 stroys vast numbers in the shallower waters. Still, 

 the profits are very large, and the subject is well 

 worth the more general attention of proprietors by 

 estuaries, sea lochs, and such localities as are favour- 

 able for the planting of oyster-beds. The French are 

 largely engaged in this branch of pisciculture. 



The very best oysters we get are the Natives, 

 as the oysters of Whitstable and Colchester chiefly 

 are denominated. The small oysters or spawn, 

 called in the trade " spat," is collected all round 

 the coast, and deposited in the oyster-beds, in loca- 

 lities most favourable to its development, where 

 the greatest care, is taken of the beds until the 

 fish are fit for sale, when the oysters are dredged up, 

 and any spat which may be adhering to them is 

 removed and returned to the water. Vast quantities 

 of oysters are brought from Jersey, where the oyster- 

 beds are unusually large and fertile. The coarsest 

 and worst oysters we obtain are the Channel oysters. 



The close-season, at any rate as regards the better 

 kinds of oysters, is well kept. Probably one good 



