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Part III. — Seventh Annual Report 



the Inch Burn. Great quantities of ' seed ' lodge on it as it is most 

 favourably situated for the settling of the free embryos which are carried 

 down from the banks on which there are mature mussels. The seed- 

 bearing portion is about 400 yards long and about 100 yards broad. Seed 

 is got from the Scalp every year. 



2. 3. Rossie Island. — There are two strips of the shore of this island 

 on which the embryo mussels settle, and from which 'seed' is obtained. 

 The north-east part (2) is opposite the lower end of the Scalp, and extends 

 for a length of fully 100 yards, the seed-bearing breadth averaging from 

 10 to 15 yards. The seed which is obtained from the outer edge of the 

 north-east shore here, every third year, is removed when it attains the 

 regulation size to the fattening banks. 



The north-western portion (3) is 10 or 12 yards in breadth, and faces 

 the lower end of what once was part of the Broadwater Bank and the 

 mouth of the Steinschell Burn. The length of this part of the Rossie Island 

 shore on which young mussels fix themselves is about 200 yards. Seed is 

 got from this portion every second or third year. Neither of these banks 

 yield anything like the quantity of seed that the Scalp does ; in both, 

 however, the character of the ground is much the same as that of the 

 Scalp. 



4. Ferry den Shore of River. — The south bank of the river from the 

 eastward end of the village of Ferryden to midway between the beacons 

 near Johnny Mains' Harbour used to yield enormous quantities of seed. 

 Formerly the shingle below the rocks was covered by the embryo 

 molluscs for the distance of half a mile at least, but now the produce is 

 not nearly so great. Only a very narrow strip of shore was covered by 

 the seed, but the manager of the Ferryden beds states that twelve years 

 ago seed sufficient to cover the whole of the Society's ground could be 

 taken from it, and in 1885 the seed, as large as barley, which was very 

 plentiful on it, was buried by shingle thrown up by the river, the depth 

 of the covering being 8 inches. This silting, however, is temporary and 

 is owing to the dredging of the river by the Montrose Harbour Trustees. 

 After these dredging operations are finished it is expected that matters 

 will attain in two or three years a normal state, and the resting of the 

 mussel spat will not be affected. 



5. Inch Burn Bed. — The Inch Burn, which is dry, or almost dry, at 

 low-water, runs on the south side of Rossie Island, and affords a secure 

 haven for the wintering of fishing smacks. From the upper end of the 

 graveyard on Rossie Island as far down as Ferryden Free Church, the 

 Ferryden Society utilise the hollow of the burn as 'growing' ground. The 

 bed is composed of shingle, sand, and mud, and the mussels after being 

 transplanted to it arrive at maturity in three years. It is very good 

 growing ground, and although its breadth is only 4 yards on the north 

 side, and 20 yards on the south side, yet its great length of one third of a 

 mile permits of mussels being grown in quantity. 



6. Big Bank. — The mussels are transplanted to this bed chiefly from the 

 Scalp. The Southesk separates it from the Broad Water Bank, and branch 

 streamlets run between it and the other banks of the Society. This bank 

 has broadened in recent years, both on the north, east, and south sides, and 

 is continuous with a smaller bank at its eastern end, which in the plan of 

 the ordnance survey is marked as a distinct bank. In this way the bank 

 has increased in size by an additional breadth of 10 to 20 yards, and also 

 in length by the union to it of the small eastern bank. The bank is all 

 mud, which is very soft, but before the laying down of the mussels it was a 

 sand bank. This bank requires to lie fallow for one or two years in order 

 that its increased height may be reduced. Mussels that are transplanted 



