of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 
11 
In the opinion of the Board it is very desirable to do everything 
possible for the relief of the burdens placed upon the fishermen of 
Scotland by the present great cost of mussel bait. For this purpose 
it is necessary that the working of existing beds should be placed 
under proper regulations, and that every effort should be made to 
extend the system of bed-culture, which was introduced with so 
much success at Montrose, through the intelligent enterprise of 
Mr James Johnston. Abstract recommendations are of little 
utility unless means are at the same time provided by which these 
recommendations can be carried out. As in the cultivation of 
oysters, an essential condition of success is that mussel- beds should 
be farmed either by lease or otherwise (as in France, Holland, and 
elsewhere) by individuals, corporations, or associations, and that they 
should be worked under regulations drawn up by the Board. 
The Bouchot system of mussel-culture should also be carefully 
tested. The second Bouchot erected at the Eden estuary has now 
been completed, and will serve to show whether or not this system 
could be introduced more largely with a prospect of success, or 
whether its cost will outweigh its advantages. 
Oysters. 
It has been shown elsewhere that the Scottish oyster fishery 
has been for a long period of years gradually declining. At one 
time large quantities of oysters were exported from Scotland. 
There can be little doubt that this fishery will not be revived until 
measures similar to those adopted in the United States, Holland, 
France, and other countries are introduced into Scotland; that is to 
say, the systematic cultivation of the oyster under simple pro- 
prietary conditions, which will ensure the protection of the oysters, 
and the preservation of the produce to the oyster-culturist. Many 
efforts have been made, and a great deal of money has been lost, 
in attempts to introduce systems of oyster-culture into Scotland 
without a proper preliminary knowledge having been obtained as 
to the suitability of the locality chosen for the experiment. The 
results of such attempts in the Firth of Forth and elsewhere have 
shown that it by no means follows that because extensive oyster 
beds once existed in a given place, they may now without much 
trouble be re-created. 
The 'Garland' is at present engaged in the West Coast of Scot- 
land, under the direction of Mr W. Anderson Smith, who has 
special knowledge and experience of oysters and oyster-culture, 
and Dr J. H. Fullarton, in making an investigation into the 
remnants of the once famous oyster-beds there, in order to ascertain, 
if possible, the causes of their depletion, to determine their physical 
and biological conditions, especially in relation to the fall of spat, 
and to discover places likely to be suitable for oyster-culture. 
During last autumn Dr J. H. Fullarton visited the oyster-culture 
farms in France and Holland, and he gives in the present volume 
an interesting account of the various systems employed. 
Questions of ownership of foreshore rights and rights to neigh- 
bouring bottom are comparatively simple in France and Holland. 
In France the State is proprietor of all the foreshores and of the 
b 
