THE OTSTEE. 39 



to profit and condition, and the more appreciated by the 

 astronomic million, who hail the oyster season as 

 does a sportsman the advent of grouse and partridges, 

 hares and pheasants. 



The oysters, which are thus preserved, cleaned, 

 aui'sed, and fattened are taken from their beds at the 

 low tide when the water is out. 



There are doubts, various and conflicting, as to 

 whether oysters contained in reservoirs, where the 

 ^ater is changed each successive tide, are not on that 

 iccount preferable to those which exist in the same 

 water for two weeks at a time. I give a decided prefer- 

 mce to the latter, though the water must be kept very 

 ilean by constant care and attention to the removal of 

 :he dead, the decomposition of which would otherwise, 

 3ut for the frequent change of water, seriously aftect 

 ;he health of the whole settlement, by an accumulation 

 )f sulphuretted hydrogen, with a smell like that emitted 

 Dy the Thames and other drainage rivers in the dog- 

 iays. These oysters slip down the human throat divine 

 vvith a tenderness and sublime relish which no words 

 3an describe. 



Let me pass over, for the nonce, the mode of packing 

 md sending them to the interior. Thanks to the rail- 

 vvays, the gastronomic al delight of oyster eating is now 

 secured to many who for years scarcely knew what an 

 )yster meant in its entire freshness and best qualities. 



Sergius Grata, as Pliny the Elder tells us in the 

 jighty-ninth book of his invaluable Xatural History, 

 md, as we have abeady stated, first conceived the idea 

 )f planting oysters in beds. This epicure had large 



