CULTIVATION OF OYSTERS Bl NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL METHODS. 7 



used fascines very largely, and this for two reasons — first, to try the expe- 

 riment of catching oysters with them ; and secondly, to make the fascines 

 do the very work they seemed most inclined to do, viz. to collect the weeds 

 and the mud. I made with these fascines enclosures of various sizes and 

 shapes, and inside them I placed the tiles, which were thus guarded both 

 from the mud and also from the long belt-weed, which bothered me much by 

 floating among the tiles and upsetting them. This is a good example of one 

 of the difficulties of oyster-culture, and a proof that he who undertakes such 

 matters must closely observe the actions of various materials when placed in 

 the sea, and use these natural tendencies to the advancement of the object he 

 has in view. I show a water-colour drawing of my works at Heme Bay. 



On Dredging. 



The subject of dredging has occupied my most serious attention. It is a 

 question upon which legislation is at fault, or rather those who make the 

 laws know not what laws they ought to make, as they have not studied the 

 natural history of the animal which they wish to protect from injury. 



Dredging consists in sailing over the grounds and scraping the ground with 

 an instrument called a dredge ; it is made chiefly of iron : the front part of 

 it has a sharpish edge to pick up the oysters, which are received into a network, 

 the network being of chain in the deep-sea dredging-boats, of cow's hide- in 

 those boats which fish in more shallow water. 



As the dredge passes over the bottom of the sea it performs two opera- 

 tions : 

 ■ 1st. It picks up what oysters it may happen to meet with in its course. 



2nd. It clears away the mud and dirt from the stones over which it passes. 



The failure of spat has been popularly attributed to over dredging, i. e. the 

 ground has been so much worked that all the oysters have been taken off 

 from it, and none left for breeding-purposes. This theory I hold to be some- 

 what fallacious. True it is that the Jersey beds are now unproductive ; but 

 I fear that unless they are regularly dredged they will remain for ever \m- 

 productive. It is well known — and it is one of the first principles in oyster- 

 culture — that in order to enable the spat to adhere the culch must be perfectly 

 clean ; if it is not dredged the mud will quickly accumulate on it, and there 

 will be no places left fit for the reception of spat, should there happen to be 

 spat. 



It has been argued that if no parent oysters are left on the bed to spat 

 there can be no young ones bom to adhere to the culch. The answer to this 

 is, that no number of dredges can pick up all the oysters on a given space 

 of ground, and that there will be enough left to stock the ground should there 

 be " a fall of spat," in other words, should the spat live after it has been 

 emitted from the mother's shell. 



Supposing the ground to have but few oysters left on it on account of the 

 place being so much worked with the dredge, the young oysters (should it 

 be a favourable year for them) would find plenty of harbour on the clean 

 culch, and the grounds would be restocked. Supposing, on the contrary, that 

 the ground is thoroughly stocked with oysters, and has not been dredged for 

 some time, they must all of them inevitably perish, on account of the culch 

 being covered with mud, even though the year has been favourable for their 

 living. 



I would, however, draw a serious distinction as regards locality. In the 

 case of the deep-sea oyster-beds, I should certainly not permit any dredging 

 to go on during the months that the oysters are spatting, for the simple rea- 



