914 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [2] 



are sold when they are three or four years old. The oysters which are 

 to be sold are taken from the beds with bottom -scrapers by the so-called 

 dredgers, and are sorted on board. Those which are too young for the 

 market are, of course, again placed in the water; and as the beds are 

 arranged in such a manner as to have oysters of different ages separate, 

 young oysters can very easily be taken up and i)lanted, which aids the 

 work considerably. 



Besides models of vessels, bottom-scrapers, and other apparatus, the 

 company also exhibited a very fine collection of oysters of different ages, 

 of sponges and algse found on the beds, and of various enemies of the 

 oyster. As the oj^ster fisheries with us are carried on in a very differ- 

 ent manner from what they are in England, and as our fisheries will, 

 owing to the different nature of the bottom, hardly undergo any change 

 in the near future, a description of the apparatus exhibited by the 

 Whitstable Company will scarcely be of interest to the Norwegian 

 public. 



Lord Scott, the owner of beds and basins for young oysters on the 

 Isle of Wight, exhibited models of two basins. They were both dug 

 out of the ground and surrounded by strong embankments, held together 

 by piles and wicker-work, clay and stones being placed between the 

 layers of wicker-work. The inside of the basin is lined with birch 

 branches. They are connected with the sea by a pipe having a knee, 

 which when the tide is out is turned aside, so as to receive the super- 

 fluous water and carry it out into the sea, whenever it is desirable to 

 change the depth of water. It is said that experience has taught thac 

 in this manner the water is easily renewed without occasioning any 

 considerable loss of young oysters. On account of the heavy swell on 

 the English coast, the basin is filled in the same manner, when the tide 

 comes in, simply by bending the pipe in one or the other direction. 



One of the basins occupies an area of three-fourths of an acre and the 

 other 1 acre. Their depth varies from 4 to 6 feet. When the water is 

 low, both basins can be emptied completely. These basins are used 

 exclusively for gathering young oysters. Near to them are the beds 

 which are used both for keeping and fattening the mother oysters and 

 for raising young oysters. 



Towards the end of May there are gathered liom the beds and planted 

 in the basins a suitable number (generally from 15,000 to 20,000) of 

 mother oysters. They are laid on the bottom, between the scaffolding 

 of laths on which the collectors are placed. The scaffolding is 30 cen- 

 timeters high [about 12 inches], 1 centimeter broad [about four-tenths 

 inchj, and of the same length as the basin. It rests on the bottom, and 

 on it are placed laths, on which the bricks are laid. The bricks used 

 here are generally flat, it being asserted that the oysters can more easily 

 be taken off than from the long and bent bricks used at Arcachon. 

 Before the bricks are laid on the scaffolding they are dipped in a mix- 

 ture comjDosed of eight parts sand and two parts lime. In this mixture 



