XXXV.—OYSTER CULTIVATION IN THE NETHERLANDS. 
By Dr. P. P. C. HogK.* 
{From Cireular No. 2, 1879, of the Deutsche Vischerei- Verein. 
In his interesting work, Die Austern und die Austernwirthschaft, Ber- 
lin, 1877 (Oysters and Oyster Cultivation), Professor Mobius returns 
a negative answer to the question, whether the artificial cultivation of 
the oyster, according to the French system, can be carried on in Ger- 
man coast-waters; and assigns as the principal reasons for his conelu- 
sions the unfavorable conditions of tide and temperature. 
Many a German reader will, therefore, be astonished to learn that 
oyster cultivation is very successfully carried on on the coast of the 
Netherlands. I have recently published a treatise, in the Dutch lan- 
guage on oyster cultivation in the Netherlands, as compared with such 
cultivation in France, and the unsuccessful attempts in that direction 
made in England and on the German coasts, and at the request of Pro- 
zessor Mobius, I shall here reproduce, in German translation, that por- 
tion of my treatise which relates to oyster cultivation in the Nether- 
lands. 
The rise in the price of oysters had produced on the coast of the 
Netherlands, asin other countries, a system of fishing, which might well 
be termed plundering or robbing, and the number of oysters decreased 
very perceptibly in consequence. The Tevel oyster-beds have been al- 
most exhausted, although a few years ago they enjoyed the reputation 
of possessing a great wealth of oysters. Thus a whole ship-load of young 
Texel oysters was sold in 1835 at mark 3.25 to mark 4 (77-95 cents). In 
1836, Texel fishermen brought large oysters to Hamburg and Bremen 
and sold them at mark 1.90 to mark 2.60 (45 to 60 cents); besides these 
they sold 2,000,000 oysters to Amsterdam merchants at about 80 pfennig 
(20 cents) a ivi ee These oysters were sold in the Amsterdam oyster- 
saloons at 2 mark (47 cents) a hundred. For a hundred oysters of the 
same kind 7 mark ($1.66) were paid in 1870, and ten mark ($2.38) in 
1875. 
When the Dutch Government, in 1870, began to give attention to the 
subject, the number of oysters had greatly decreased, not only on the 
Texel oyster -beds, but also on those of the coast of Groningen, Friesland, 
“*Dr. P. P. C. Hoek; in jee Ginn aubibrncuckt in en Niederlanden.—Translated 
by HERMAN JACOBSON, 
[1} 1029 
