10 REPORT — 1865. 



beacons ; they crawl up these poles as far as they can, and then, remaining 

 out of water till they are nearly dried up, drop back again. 



Expert mints on the Foreshore on a large scale. 



The Heme Bay Oyster Company having deputed me to carry out experi- 

 ments on their grounds at Heme Bay according to the much talked-of French 

 system of oyster-culture, I have since the month of May last been almost 

 exclusively occupied in these experiments. Having carefully studied the 

 whole system of tiles and fascines as adopted in the Isle of Be, actual ex- 

 perience has shown me that the French system cannot be adopted on the 

 English foreshores in exactly the same manner as it has been in France; almost 

 at every point minor puzzles occur, which require much foresight and per- 

 petual contriving to overcome. The Kemmerer tiles are, as is well known, 

 coated with cement on the under side, so that, the oyster having fixed itself, 

 the cement can be broken in pieces, and the oyster, when arrived at the age 

 of one year, immediately let free. I have not adopted this system, prin- 

 cipally on account of the expense it would necessarily entail. I have, how- 

 ever, with the assistance of an ingenious brick-maker, contrived a tile of such 

 a size and such a consistency, that the necessity of having cement is avoided, 

 and the oyster will be able to be set free without fracturing its shell. 



At a comparatively small cost, but with great personal labour, I have laid 

 down four thousand of these tiles on the foreshore at Heme Bay. Three great 

 difficulties have occurred: these are, firstly, to keep the tiles from being 

 knocked over by the waves ; secondly, to obviate their unaccountable desire 

 to sink into the mud, and in consequence become useless ; and thirdly, the 

 inconvenience of the very short time allowed by the tides to place the tiles 

 in their proper position on the foreshore. Most of these matters I have, 

 however, seriously considered, and, with the able help of Mr. Dilnot, a trades- 

 man of Heme Bay, have overcome. 



The tiles I placed down at three different periods in the year, viz. in June, 

 July, and beginning of August ; I examined them carefully every spring tide : 

 the waves have displaced them but very slightly, and broken hardly any. 



It is as yet (September) rather early to report the actual result of the ope- 

 ration, as the spat would not yet be sufficiently large to be easily appreciable ; 

 I therefore hope that the present warm weather may encourage what is called 

 the Michaelmas spat, and that the tiles may be found to have caught some. 



In their present condition the tiles are covered with what are locally called 

 " Nuns," in other words balani or acom-shells ; but no young oysters are to 

 be seen as yet. 



In accordance with the French plan, I have placed in my submarine parks 

 and gardens broken pieces of glass, earthenware, pottery, &c. In France these 

 objects wo\dd have become covered with oysters. At the locality, however, 

 where we placed them the nuns took the place of the oysters. The numbers 

 of numerous marine creatiu-es which have adhered to the tiles amply prove 

 that their structure is most favourable for the catching of spat, should there 

 be any to catch ; and the local fishermen, who first laughed at my operations, 

 no longer laugh, but express their opinion that the tiles would be capital 

 things, should there be any spat about. 



Anxious to ascertain the fact whether the tiles did not catch spat because 

 they were not in structure adapted so to do, o'r because the spat perished be- 

 tween the time of its being emitted from the mothers shell and in fixing 

 itself, I devised the following experiments : — I procured large glass jars and 

 bottles, and, placing in these oysters which I could see to be in a spatting 



