12 SIXTH REPORT OF THE SHELL FISH COMMISSIONERS 
EXPORTS. 
The shipment of Connecticut oysters to foreign countries has 
increased rapidly, and the following statements upon this sub- 
ject made by W. H. Hoyt, Esq., of The Hoyt Bros. Co., will 
prove interesting and instructive. Mr. Hoyt had just made a two 
months’ trip abroad for the purpose of investigating the oyster 
industries of Europe. He says: 
‘* Oyster cultivation in Europe is quite a different affair from what it is in this 
country. I have covered the ground pretty thoroughly and I know what I am 
talking about. In England and Ireland, for instance, the coast waters are much 
colder than those of our shore. We ship large quantities of oysters there for 
planting. They plant our oysters in the spring and exhaust the crop during the 
summer and fall. They eat oysters there during the summer. American oysters 
do not spawn there during the summer months, owing to the fact that the water 
is so much cooler. The change in temperature has that effect. When, in 
the late season, the water becomes cooler, the oysters grow poor; become 
worthless in fact. For that reason there is a steady demand for American 
oysters every year. We exported 100,000 bushels last year, our firm contribu- 
ting largely to the exportation, and we expect to do more next year. They like 
American oysters over there. The epicures fancy them exceedingly. Their 
native oysters have a queer taste, which they get from the iodine in the water. 
In order to like them you must acquire a taste for them. They are very pretty, 
however; but the crop is limited. Oysters are eaten there either raw or on the 
half shell, not cooked. The oysters we shipped last year and planted along the 
English and Irish coast, were just as fat and good as we have here, and their 
flavor was the same as here in the fall months. 
‘“The leading centers of the oyster trade in England and Ireland are, for the | 
export business, London, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham. From these 
places oysters are shipped all over England. ‘They are raised in, let me see, 
Dublin, to start with Ireland, Collingsford, and other places along the coast 
near them. . In both these places a great many American oysters are planted. 
Along the coast of England I might mention as good oyster towns and places 
where the American oyster is pushing his way very fast into favor, Ermisby, 
Clerethorpes, near the mouth of the Humber, Brightingsea, farther south, Whit- 
stable, near the mouth of the Thames, several places near the Isle of Wight, and 
the bay up to Southampton, Poole, and other towns near. 
‘*T will describe to you as near as I can what I saw in Belgium and Holland. 
The French mode of cultivating oysters is precisely similar to the Dutch. At 
Bergen Op Zoom they raise a great many Dutch oysters. They grow very pretty 
and command a great price. Around the bay at Vlissengen there are also many 
oysters raised. Their system of propagation is different from ours. The 
bivalves are propagated in vats. These vats are made of brick, with bottom 
and walls of that material. The vats are built along the shore and are supplied 
with gates which let the water in and out of the compartments into which the 
vats are divided. These vats cover from one-quarter to one-half an acre. 
During the spawning time they put in a certain amount of oysters. Then they 
put in tiles made of brick and covered with a lime coating. The tiles are about 
