718 OCEANOGRAPHY 



lines of bamboo fences. When the tide is out, the scene takes on an 

 entirely different aspect. One sees that the entire area, only so 

 recently covered by the water and over which -one glided in a boat, 

 seems to be cut up into lots looking very much like town lots, with 

 streets intersecting. Two examples of these lots are given in Figs. 

 5 and 6. The lines in the figures indicate bamboo collectors on 

 which the oyster-spat becomes attached and grows, the full lines 

 representing those that were put up any one year, and the dotted 

 lines those of the year previous. From a distance these bamboo col- 

 lectors and oyster-fields reminded me of nothing so much as vine- 

 trellises in the Rhine vineyards. The spat that is collected on these 

 bamboo fences is left to grow on them until the winter of the next 

 year that is, only a little more than a year from the beginning. 

 Then the bamboo collectors are taken down, the oysters are beaten 

 off, and are then ready to be sent to the market. 



The oysters are necessarily small, for unfortunately there is no 

 place in this bay to allow their further growth, as the bottom is too 

 soft and they would become buried in mud. This, then, is a very 

 simple system, to collect the oyster-spat on bamboo fences, to let 

 it grow on them until a little over a year old, and then to send the 

 oysters to the market. 



The method known as the Kusatsu system is practiced in the vil- 

 lage after which it is named, as well as in all other villages that lie to 

 the west of Hiroshima. Four or five bamboo sticks about 4 feet long 

 are made into clusters and stuck firmly into the bottom so that about 

 3 feet is left above ground (Fig. 7). These clumps are arranged in long 

 rows, generally over 1000 feet in length, each row being in reality 

 double, with clumps in each of these two subordinate rows set alter- 

 nately. On these clumps the oyster-spat is collected, and the young 

 oysters are allowed to grow on them until April of the next year. At 

 that time the old collectors have to give place to the new set of collect- 

 ors to be ready for the spat that will soon be shed. Young oysters 

 are therefore struck off the collectors at that time and taken to the 

 place called "ike-ba" (literally living-ground), where they are placed 

 directly on the rather firm, gravelly sea-bottom, and allowed to grow 

 there until the cold season of the third year. These "ike-ba" may 

 be some distance from, or quite near, the spat-collecting ground, ac- 

 cording to the circumstances of each collector and how and where 

 he can get a good bottom for the purpose. Finally, toward the cold 

 season of the third year, the oysters are removed to the "miire-ba," 

 or maturing-ground, which is to receive all that are ready for the 

 market. This ground must, of course, be quite near the culturist, 

 and easily accessible. 



At Nihojima, about 2 miles east of Hiroshima, the nature of the 

 oyster-grounds has necessitated the development of a most elaborate 



