270 FISH CULTUEE, 



is scarcely a harbour or a river's mouth where some- 

 thing of the kihd might not with the utmost ease 

 he carried out. I know of one small pool, near Titch- 

 field, at the mouth of Southampton Water, where 

 lobsters are placed ; and this is a mere stew, in which 

 they are kept for a few days until required. There 

 are, however, as I have said, numberless places where 

 fortunes could be realised, and vast stores of food 

 provided for the people. 



There are few shell fish of any kind found upon 

 our coasts, from lobsters to limpets, which are not 

 more or less valuable to some part of our population. 

 Mussels, cockles, shrimps, whelks, and winkles are 

 all articles of food or commerce, many forming indis- 

 pensable baits in our more valuable fisheries. !Dne 

 attention should therefore be paid to their cultiva- 

 tion and supply, as, owing to reckless fishing, some 

 of them have been seriously dimiaished. A slight 

 notion of their actual value can be formed from the 

 fact that the supply of whelks alone obtained off the 

 Heme Bay flats (now handed over to a private com- 

 pany) and sold either to the Iforth Sea cod fishers or 

 the London market for food, realised something Kke 

 from J5,000Z, to 20,000Z. a year, whUe in many 

 places the sums realized from the sale of mussels 

 would seem incredible, 



