252 HINTS TO THE OYSTEE-FARMEE. 



oysters when they came to be removed. These were found to 

 embrace a growth of three seasons. Those of the first year's 

 spawning were ready for the market ; the second year's brood 

 were a good deal smaller ; whilst the remainder were not larger 

 than a lentil. To attain miraculous crpps similar to those once 

 achieved in the Bay of St. Brieuc, or at the He de Re, little 

 more is required than to lay down the spawn in a nice rocky 

 bay, or in a place paved for the purpose, and having as little mud 

 about it as possible. A place having a good stream of water 

 flowing into it is the most deskable, so that the flock may 

 procure food of a varied and nutritious kind. A couple of 

 hundred stakes driven into the soft places of the shore, between 

 high and low water mark, and these well supplied with branches 

 held together by galvanised iron wire (common rope might soon 

 become rotten), would, in conjunction with the rocky ground, 

 afford capital holding-on places, so that any quantity of spawn 

 might, in time, be developed into fine " natives." There are 

 hundreds of places on the English and Irish coasts where such 

 farms could be advantageously laid down. 



Since the previous editions of this work were issued, bad 

 news has been received about the French oyster farms, many of 

 them having become exhausted through the greed of their 

 proprietors, who at an early period began to kill the goose for 

 the sake of its golden egg, a calamity that seems to be too 

 frequently an attendant consequence of the present system of 

 fishing, economy. In the year 1863, as far as I can ascertain, 

 the artificial system culminated at the He de Be, and since then 

 the beds have yearly become less prolific. 



A great amount of the miscellaneous information regarding 

 oyster-growth and oyster-commerce, which has been circulated 

 during the last five years, is not of a reliable nature ; but many 

 of the circumstances attendant on artificial culture are interesting, 

 and have been proved to be correct, although they seem contra- 

 dictory : as, for instance, that oysters if spawned on a muddy 

 bottom are lost, although the same muddy bottom is highly 

 suitable for the feeding stages of the moUuso. It is also 

 remarka,ble that breeding oysters do not fatten, and that fat 

 oysters yield no spat. There has been some controversy as to 

 whether transplanted oysters will breed ; opinions differ, and it 

 is on record that^such a remarkable spat once fell on the Whit- 

 stable groimds as to provide a stock for eleven years, including, 

 of course, what was gathered towards the end of that period. A 



