UNDEVELOPED RESOURCES OF MARINE FISHERIES. 25 
and consequently they won’t sell. But there was one important 
and interesting thing I noticed about them—they had young 
oysters no bigger than the half of a threepenny bit sticking to 
them. It was curious that all I could procure were either very 
old or very young; but here, at least, were the essential facts 
which proved that oysters thrive in these waters. It is interest- 
ing to note that, even where oysters are under cultivation, it is 
often impossible to get them to spawn, and “seed’’ has to be 
procured from more favoured places, but here was the seed too. 
One of the great difficulties in this part of the world which has 
to be overcome in oyster cultivation is the destruction worked by 
hard frost. No certain success can be relied on if an oyster bed 
is allowed to dry each ebb. Consequently, we find that there 
are no oysters in the Solway which can be gathered by hand at 
low tide with the exception of a few small and insignificant 
beds which are only accessible on very rare occasions; such as, 
for instance, when there is a strong east wind and an unusually 
low ebb. After a heavy south-westerly gale, I have seen the 
western shore of Heston Island strewn with oyster shells, but I 
have never been able to locate the bed from which they come. 
It cannot be very far away, nor can it be very deep, or a rough 
sea would not disturb it. There is no great difficulty about 
farming oysters under water, provided the depth is not more 
than a fathom or two, and in a sheltered estuary a depth of a 
few inches would be sufficient to prevent even a severe frost 
damaging the shellfish, for the rise and fall of the tide would 
prevent any thickness of ice being formed. 
DIFFICULTIES AND How to MEET THEM. 
With regard to the beds already mentioned, the way to 
make them productive would be to dredge up the old oysters 
from a part of the bottom and collect the seed which is adhering 
to them, and this should be planted again on the space cleared. 
By planting a given area each year an annual crop could be 
relied on, and, once the whole bed had been treated in this 
way, the labour of farming the oysters would be much reduced. 
Owing to the fact that the natural conditions required for suc- 
cessful oyster culture are not thoroughly understood, it is much 
safer to tackle an existing bed than to make fresh ones. There 
“are many places where oyster farming has been tried under con- 
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