THE OYSTER 



self home as soon as he likes and stay there till the thaw 

 comes ; for frost kills the brood the moment it comes in 

 contact with it, no matter how quickly the catch is stowed 

 away. You can see the little oysters open of themselves 

 as soon as they are taken out of the water on a frosty 

 day. 



Hitherto we have dealt with but one class of oyster, 

 but there are others that may be of interest. As 

 youngsters, most of us have been told by our travelled 

 elders that oysters grow on trees ; and we have had the 

 uncomfortable feeling that we were being " chaffed."" Yet 

 we live to find out that in some parts of the world, such 

 is the case ; in the West Indies, at the heads of inlets and 

 natural harbours where the mangrove grows freely under 

 water, oysters may be found by the hundred, clinging to 

 the branches. 



There is an interesting point, too, relating to the colour 

 of oysters ; those from Spain are red ; from parts of the 

 Adriatic, brown ; from the Bay of Biscay and parts of the 

 Channel, green; from the Red Sea, opaline and rain- 

 bow coloured. 



There is, though not to the extent that once prevailed, 

 a good deal of exchange in the matter of brood. In bad 

 years that is years when the fall of "spat" has been 

 poor brood has been brought over from Canyale or 

 Dieppe or Arcachon, and planted in English beds ; 

 similarly, though the Dutch have large beds off Zealand, 

 they will buy young oysters of English fishermen to ripen 

 in the grounds at Petten. In recent years the Australian 

 beds have proved so fruitful that an attempt has been 



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