OSTREAD^. — OYSTER. 75 



fishermen can earn from M. to Is. 6d. per diem, and are 

 mostly landholders. The Burran Bank oysters are highly 

 esteemed in Dublin, and are called " Burton Bindons." 

 They are brought from Kilkerran and Rossmuck Bays, 

 in Galway, and are laid down to fatten on the Red Bank 

 oyster-bed in Aughinish Bay. Formerly Mr. Burton 

 Bindon was the possessor of these beds, but now Mr. 

 Singleton has succeeded him, as we are informed by Mr. 

 Buckland, who has recently visited these and other 

 oyster-beds on the west coast of Ireland, the east coast 

 of England, and also those on the west coast of France. 



The Carrickfergus oysters are large in size, and, 

 according to Mr. Patterson, so much in demand that 

 their price in the Belfast market is generally from 12*. 

 to 15«. per hundred of 120 oysters. 



There are oyster-beds in the Shannon, said in 1836 

 to yield a revenue of £1400 ; and a small bed in Cork 

 harbour, of no great extent, but the oysters are large, 

 and prized for stewing, and sell at a good price. Formerly 

 in Lough Swilly there were oyster-beds, and the oysters 

 were sold at 2d. per hundred, but they have become very 

 scarce, from the beds not having been properly protected. 



In the 'Morning Post,' August 29, 1864, an account 

 is given of the investigations by the commissioners ap- 

 pointed by Parliament, on the condition of the deep-sea 

 fisheries of Ireland. At Wexford they elicited important 

 facts. Fine oyster-beds are found at Wexford, but scarcely 

 any oysters in them, which appears somewhat singular. 

 It is not lawful to sell oysters in Ireland in the months 

 of May, June, and July. The Wexford men dredge for 

 them, of course, in the other months, but the reason of 

 their beds being badly stocked is, that in the close months 

 they are regularly dredged by Beaumaris boats, which 



