OYSTER-DREDGING. 255 



that oyster-farming is an industry which must be regu- 

 lated by certain fixed principles ; but that, if these prin- 

 ciples are observed, the supply of oysters may be increased 

 almost indefinitely, to the great advantage of our food- 

 resources, and the direct benefit of a large portion of our 

 coast population. Much has been done in this direction, 

 but even now a deplorable ignorance prevails on a subject 

 which is really of national importance ; and people appear 

 oblivious of the evident truth that the treasures of the sea 

 require to be as carefully and intelligently utilized as the 

 treasures of the land ! 



We now come to the various methods of oyster-fishing. 

 In some localities this is conducted after a very primitive 

 fashion. At Majorca divers descend into the water, 

 armed with a hammer, and detach the molluscs, one by 

 one, from their resting-places. Obviously, such a process 

 is adapted only for places where oyster consumption does 

 not exist on a large scale, and where human labour is 

 very cheap. In England and France, as in the United 

 States, the oyster-fishery is carried on by dredging : the 

 dredge (or drogue) being a kind of iron rake, equipped 

 with a net, and attached to the stern of the fishing-boat 

 by a long tow-rope. The oyster-smack presses forward 

 under full sail ; the dredge harries and sweeps the bank 

 of molluscs, which, as they are torn from the rocky bottom, 

 fall into the open net. 



To prevent an " oyster-bed " from being exhausted, it is 

 generally divided into a certain number of zones, each of 

 which is fished in due succession ; and thus, while one is 

 being worked, the oysters in the others are enabled to 

 multiply, and grow to a proper size. Fishing is illegal 



(502) ] 7 



