80 



an easily grown and most nourishing- food and as, in any case, its flesh 

 can be exported either dry to China, or canned to other countries^ and as 

 the oysters of this Presidency are good and can probably be developed 

 in hundreds of places with great success, the subject is here adverted to, 

 but it is hoped to deal more completely with the subject in future 

 reports where suitable locahties and various methods will be mentioned. 

 The most notable place in Japan is at Hiroshima, where the sea is 

 usually quiet and where large areas of the space between high and low 

 tide, which here runs out to a great distance, is lotted out into thousands 

 of plots each leased by Government, on payment, of course, to persons 

 whose business is that of oyster culture. An official report states that 

 the area is 24 miles in length and that the locality is favoured by 

 abundance of sweet water from rivers, plenty of food, a quiet sea, a 

 wide area exposed at every low tide, and suitable bottom. There are 

 several local metliods but the principle in all is the same, viz., the 

 planting in spring (spawning season) of " collectors " which are 

 branches of bamboo, etc., usually in small clumps of 5 or 6 each 

 which are stuck into the muddy bottom of what may be called the 

 nursery ; on these the spat collects and is left to grow till next spring, 

 at which time they are uprooted to give place to a new set of " collec- 

 tors." * The young oysters are then removed from the " collectors " 

 and taken to the growing ground (ikeba) where they are left till the 

 cold weather of their third year, when they are (sometimes but not 

 always) again removed to an enclosure or maturing ground whence they 

 can be selected for market. In some cases the oysters are left for 

 about 20 months only on the original " collectors " and are then sent to 

 market. 



Great pains are taken to keep the beds perfectly clean and it is 

 obvious that cleaning and all other operations are greatly facilitated 

 by the exjiosure of the sea-bottom and oysters at every ebb tide, but 

 there would be no difficulty in dealing with similar areas which 

 though not actually bare are only covered with shallow water. 



170. The illustrations in Prof. Mitsukuri's pamphlet show clearly 

 the methods employed, but the most striking is the ground-plan 

 showing the extraordinary way in which every foot of the tidal 

 estuary at Nihojima — the most famous of grounds — is parcelled out : 

 the plan is precisely like an ordinary village survey map of a paddy 

 area, absolutely covered with minute enclosures of which there must 

 be nearly a thousand and, as Prof. Mitsukuri observes, since the 

 surrounding hills are cultivated in terraces to the very top it is difficult 



• In the Adriatic the reverse method is practised as shown hy models and photo- 

 graphs in tl>e Austrian Court of the late Milan Exhibition ; a sort of seaflfolding is erected 

 in the tidal water from which hang rows of cords into which are tied rough pieces of 

 stick, small branches, etc. ; on tht'se the tpat collects aiui is easily removed at the proper 

 Reason, 



