The Oysters 



loads of the little "jingle shells'" (Anomia) to put down. Spat 

 that settles on jingle stool becomes separated by the disintegra- 

 tion of the thin shells in a year or two. Scallop shells are also 

 used. Tin cans have been tried ; the salt water rapidly eats 

 through them, liberating the individual oysters. Light weight 

 shells are liable to be washed away with their loads of young 

 oysters by strong tides or currents. Oyster shells strung on wires 

 and hung between submerged posts are good spat-catchers. But 

 this plan involves too much labour. Brush and straw are used 

 somewhat on muddy bottoms, and where currents are strong. 



The Chinese have for centuries grown oysters on bamboo 

 screens in the estuaries of rivers. The French, who have no 

 natural oyster beds, have constructed an elaborate and successful 

 artificial system of oyster culture, by converting worthless mud 

 flats into pares and claires. Here they grow and fatten oysters 

 for the Parisian market, which is the most exacting and the best- 

 paying market in the world. 



The most perfect device for catching spat is used by French 

 growers. Hollow tiles, coated with cement, inside and out, and 

 piled crosswise in wire trays, are suspended between posts under 

 water. The entire surface becomes covered with spat. In due 

 season the young oysters are chipped off with the cement; thus 

 separated, they develop in perfect form in trays where they are 

 never allowed to become crowded. 



In this country we still have natural beds in a productive 

 state. Comparatively speaking, oysters are cheap and labour 

 is dear. Conditions on the French coast are reversed. The 

 most perfect methods of culture cannot profitably be adopted in 

 the present state of the industry. Dr. Brooks's important dem- 

 onstration that the ova of oysters can be artificially fertilised 

 and carried safely over the critical embryonic stages, has, as yet, 

 no practical bearing on the business. 



Thinning and Transplanting. — The mangrove oyster illus- 

 trates the logical consequences of too much crowding. Spat 

 which coats the clutch completely the first year enters upon a 

 struggle for existence which warps and stunts the growth of all. 

 So many feeding must often face comparative starvation. 



When the spat is a year old,- and the size of a twenty-five 

 cent piece, the business of thinning and transplanting may well 

 begin. A good " set " should furnish quantities of spat for planting 



428 



