6 KEPORT 1865. 



people grind the shell and take as much of the powder as will cover a four- 

 penny piece as a cure for ague. 



3. We will now consider the third materials the spat loves to fasten itself 

 to. The most prominent of these is " mussels.' 1 I am enabled to show you 

 several fine specimens where oysters have adhered to mussels. The reason 

 of this is obviously that the shell of the mussel presents the two requisites 

 for the adhesion of the spat — perfect cleanliness and great smoothness. 

 Oyster-proprietors shoxdd treasure this fact carefully in their memory, and 

 should apply it. Mussels in beds form one of the greatest enemies to oysters, 

 for they spin their web over them, accumulate mud, and suffocate the oysters 

 beneath. They should therefore be dredged up, placed on the foreshore to 

 die and decay, and the shells thrown back into the sea at the places where 

 the spat is expected to fall. 



For some reason or other the spat seems to like the shell of the common 

 whelk, especially when the animal is dead. I now show you several specimens 

 to prove this fact. Whelks, however, are far too valuable, not only as hunian 

 food, but also as a bait for the cod in the North Sea cod-fishery, to which 

 locality they are annually sent in quantities of such enormous money-value, to 

 prevent our ever thinking of using whelk-shells as cidch in large quantities. 



The spat will also adhere to clams and to cockles. There is a large bed of 

 these shells outside the mouth of the River Crouch in Essex ; and friends 

 of mine who have oyster-fisheries in this region dredge large quantities to 

 place down on their grounds. I show you samples of all these facts. 



4. We cannot be too observant of facts. I now show you a common 

 saucer, on which oysters of three years old have fastened themselves. It was 

 dredged up at a place called the Sandheads. at the nioiith of the Thames ; it 

 is marked Queen's Channel in the maps. The French oyster-culturists have 

 long been aware of the fact shown by the saucer, and in their oyster-parks 

 place down all the broken potteryware they can find; and to these the 

 oysters will adhere in considerable numbers — that is, in France. Unglazed 

 earthenware has also attractions for the oyster ; and upon this fact is founded 

 the whole system of catching oysters by means of earthenware tiles, as I 

 shall state hereafter. 



5. It has often been a question as to whether oysters will or will not adhere 

 to iron. I am able to answer this in the affirmative. The piles which sup- 

 port the pier at Heine Bay are covered over with broad-headed iron nails, 

 and upon these, when the tides are very low, I have frequently found oysters 

 adhering. A dredgerman, moreover, lately brought me in an exceedingly 

 fine specimen, viz. the square bit of iron that A\as used formerly to go round 

 the head of the wooden stock of an anchor ; upon this square bit of iron I 

 found no less than twenty-four oysters pf various sizes and ages. 



6. Oysters will also adhere to wood. Much has been said lately upon the 

 advantage of placing down fascines or faggots for the use of the young oyster. 

 I at once pronounce this to be a delusion and a snare, and I entreat those 

 interested in the matter never to go to any trouble or expense in placing 

 down fascines for this purpose. The experiment has been tried over and 

 over again in England, and with the simple residt that the fascines are ex- 

 cellent cellectors of mud and seaweeds, sometimes of barnacles, but hardly 

 ever of spat. I now show you two solitary specimens, one from the Isle of 

 Re, and the other from Mr. Wiseman's grounds at Paglesham ; but the 

 failures in this direction so much preponderate over the successes that I 

 should never advise their use. 



In the experiments now under my charge at Heme Bay, it is true, I have 



