OYSTERS AND OYSTER-CULTURE. 
455 
to 3,000,000 — is favoured by heat, and retarded by cold, and 
it is very probable that the oysters in certain beds never 
spawn, because of the great depth of the water, and conse- 
quent diminution of temperature.* 
All sea-side readers, but very few inland ones, are familiar 
with the way in which oysters are obtained, and the sources 
from which they are derived ; it behoves us, therefore, to say 
a word or two about oyster-beds and dredges. The former 
are vast accumulations of these molluscs, generally found in 
the open sea or on the coast-line, and more rarely in estuaries. 
They exist at depths varying from six to thirty fathoms, and 
are usually discovered lying on sandy or muddy bottoms. 
The dredge is a kind of net made of coarse rope, and attached 
at its mouth to an iron framework of a rectangular shape, and 
about four times as long as it is wide. The upper and lower 
edges of this framework present tolerably sharp edges, and 
from its sides proceed two iron bars which are united in front 
by a ring of. metal. When this instrument is about to be 
employed, a rope is fastened to the ring, and the apparatus 
is thrown from a boat which floats over the beds. The boat 
is then urged forward either by wind or oars, and the dredge 
scrapes the sea-bottom till it has filled its net with oysters, 
when it is drawn up and emptied of its contents. This is the 
way in which our oysters are obtained at present. Very ex- 
tensive beds exist all round our coasts, but the most important 
are those of Kent and Essex, and the Milton, Queenborough, 
Rochester, and Eaversham beds are too well known to need 
any description from us. Suffice it to say that such is the 
importance of this branch of commerce, that 700,000,000 ! of 
oysters are annually consumed in London alone, and quite as 
many if not more in the provinces. Now, supposing we value 
them at sixpence a dozen, which is certainly below the ordi- 
nary selling price, we shall then have an annual expen- 
diture in England of about three millions sterling in 
oysters alone ! Could any fact more powerfully attest the 
value of this branch of commerce ? We fancy not. Let us 
then examine whether we are doing anything to increase and 
improve this important portion of our industrial resources, 
and what shall we find ? Why, that the demand for the com- 
modity increases and the supply diminishes, and that this 
diminution is not merely relative — it is definite. When Mr. 
Lowe, one of the secretaries of the Acclimatisation Society, 
asked concerning the past and present produce of certain 
French oyster-beds, he was informed “that the number of 
* Abstract of Report on Oyster-beds in “ Reports of British Association ” 
for 1856, p. 368. 
