[3] OYSTER CULTIVATION IN THE NETHERLANDS. 1081 
land and Tholen, and has a surface area of 2,000 hectares (4,942 acres), 
but only a portion of this area is well adapted to the cultivation of 
oysters; the remaining portion, the so-called “flat bank” (platte bank) 
has natural oyster-beds, and fishing is there carried on with drag-nets. 
On this. bank experiments in oyster cultivation were made as early as 
1870. On the whole, the method introduced into France by Coste is 
followed ; and consequently there is no exclusively artificial oyster cul- 
tivation. 
The method referred to consists, as is well known, in catching young 
oysters and placing them in other portions of the bank where they are 
not exposed to so many dangers, and where consequently they have a 
better chance of growing and developing. Only in rare cases do these 
oysters reach the age of sexual maturity; for the following years re- 
course must therefore be had to the original oyster-beds. I will, in 
this connection, briefly describe how young oysters are taken and to 
what further treatment they are subjected. 
In places where oysters are found and which are not too deep, dif- 
ferent objects are thrown here and there into the water in the begin- 
ning of summer, with the view of offering to the young oysters a suit- 
able surface to which they may cling. The places most favorable ta 
this purpose are those in which, when the tide is out, enough water re- 
mains to allow the objects to which the oysters adhere to remain under 
water at all times. In the beginning a great variety of articles was 
used for this purpose: dishes covered with cement, milk-pans, sugar- 
‘bowls, and during the very first year 20,000 tiles covered with cement. 
It soon appeared that these tiles were best adapted to the purpose in 
view, but in the beginning the attempts to loosen the oysters proved 
unsuccessful in many cases, as many of the tender shells broke during 
the process. With the view of remedying this evil the tiles are at 
present covered with a crust of cement several millimeters in thick- 
ness, which can easily be removed, leaving a small piece of cement 
adhering to every oyster when loosened from the tile. As soon as the 
winter is past the collectors are removed from the bank and the young 
oysters are taken off. 
The number of young oysters adhering to one collector (e. g., a tile) 
differs of course very much. In 1875 the average number per tile 
was 25; this, however, was an exceptionally large number, for on an 
average there are not more than ten oysters to a tile. After the 
young oysters have been loosened from the tiles, they must be scat- 
tered in suitable places so that later they may easily be found again. 
In this way a portion at least of the young oysters are treated, viz, 
those which have attained a certain degree of hardiness ;, tue remainder 
are placed in specially prepared boxes, some of which are placed on 
the banks, and others in the parks. These boxes rest on piles, and 
their top and bottom are covered with a wire grating; inside there is 
a partition likewise formed by wire grating. In these boxes the young 
