CONTINENTAL OYSTER CULTURE. 369 



Arcachon and Auray, whence numbers of young Oysters for 

 rearing are obtained. 



Dutch Oyster Culture is very similar to the French pro- 

 cedure at ArcacLon. TMie farms vary in size and complexity 

 according to the amount of capital invested, but they conform to 

 a general type of the following character. Each, says Dr. Fowler, 

 whose description I here follow, consists of two sections: the one, 

 an area of 12 to 150 acres in the bed of the Schelde, covered at 

 half-tide; the other, on dry land, comprising the necessary 

 buildings and ponds, or putten. The river section is generally 

 divided into one area for the collectors, and another often some 

 distance off, where the half-ware, or young Oysters, are placed to 

 grow to a marketable size. The river water is conducted through 

 a canal and sluices into the ponds, which can also be put into 

 direct communication with one another by other sluices. The 

 natural rise and fall of the tide effects the changing of the water. 

 The method of precedure is this : — The collectors, common roof 

 tiles, coated first with hard, afterwards with soft lime, and 

 thoroughly dried, are set about June in the bed of the Schelde at 

 low water, at right angles or broadside to the current, and sloped 

 so as to make little eddies, into which the swimming spat may be 

 swept ; they lie there, except for being occasionally swilled in 

 water to wash off the mud, till September or October, by which 

 time, if the season be good, numbers of tiny Oysters will be found 

 adhering. The tiles are then brought ashore and arranged in a 

 pond in about 3 to 4 ft. of water, which, as explained, is constantly 

 changing. Here they remain till February, when the young 

 Oysters are detached, and placed in the hospitals or ambulances. 

 These, like the French, are generally made of tarred wood, and 

 are shallow trays about 6 in, deep, standing on legs about 6 in. 

 off the ground ; they rest on the bottoms of ponds, singly or in 

 two tiers, according to the depth of water, 3 to 5 ft* ; in some 

 cases they are allowed to float. Here the young Oysters remain 

 for about two months to recover from any damage they may 

 have incurred in detachment ; at the end of this time they are 

 bedded out on the private beds in the Schelde* The grounds on 

 which they are laid are occasionally cleaned by dredging without 

 a net. The Oysters are considered marketable in the third and 

 fourth year, and are then dredged up and laid down in the store 



