736 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [54] 
upon the inner beds, since these do not furnish the necessary conditions 
for their growth. Thus, just in those places where the extreme limiting 
line of the territory inhabited by the ‘‘sea-hands” and three-sided worms 
passes across our oyster-beds, the most favorable conditions exist for the 
growth of the finest-flavored oysters. A three-sided worm upon the 
shell of a Schleswig-Holstein oyster is, therefore, a sign of ifs arrival 
from one of our best beds. A pastor living upon the island of Sylt was 
fond of good oysters, and was also well acquainted with this external 
indication of them; so he was accustomed to say to the out-going oyster- 
fishers: ‘“ Rring me some fresh oysters when you return, but only such 
as the good Lord has marked.” In Paris the green oysters of Marennes 
and Tremblade are especially prized on account of their delicious flavor. 
This cannot come from the green constituents of their body, for if old 
oysters are taken there during the winter months and placed in a fatten- 
ing-pond, they will, indeed, become green, but by no means so well- 
flavored as those oysters which were placed there when young and have 
lived there several years. (See chapter 8, p. 27.) 
The flavor of oysters is best at the banks themselves, if they are 
opened very carefully and all the sea-water which is inclosed in the 
shell when shut is allowed to escape. .This can be done most judi- 
ciously if the oyster is placed upon the flat right valve, after the 
loosening of the shell-muscle. This valve is a superior natural plate 
for the oyster, since it has no cavities like those of the left valve, filled 
with disagreeably smelling water, which flows out when the shell is 
opened and contaminates the flavor of the oyster. (See Fig. 5, p. 11.) 
The oyster can live for days perfectly dry without dying, but it grad- 
ually loses its softness, and soon begins to smell, from the dying of 
the animals which inhabit the outside of its shell. It is very seldom that 
these can be entirely removed by the usual means of purification (p. 8), 
so that the flavor of the oyster inland is almost always affected by these 
contaminating odors. 
In order that oysters may be furnished to those who want them, in 
the freshest and best-flavored condition possible, only such a number 
should be caught at any one time, and for any one market, as can be 
disposed of in a very few days. But since wind and weather are often 
so unfavorable, just in the height of the oyster-season, that vessels 
cannot go out to the beds and fish, the oystermen are obliged to dredge 
a large supply of oysters during good weather and plant them in some 
place where they will live and at the same time be available whenever 
they are wanted. For this purpose large reservoirs have been built 
near Husum. These consist of four four-sided ponds, with perpen- 
dicular walls, lined with plank. The length of the ponds is 14 meters, 
the breadth 12 meters, and the depth about 2 meters. The bottom is 
paved with tiles. The ponds can be divided into compartments by 
means of perpendicularly placed wooden partitions. In these compart- 
ments the oysters are planted as soon as they are brought from the 
