34 
Mitchell, of Bamburgh, and is being carefully cultivated by him in 
continuation of the work begun under the direction of Mr. William 
King. In 1890, the supply from this spot being very small, an 
attempt was made to restock the beds. The native mussels were 
collected together, and the ground near them cleared to encourage 
the lodgment of spat. ;:: Since then much care has been taken of the 
beds, with a fair amount of success. The greatest and most serious 
difficulty to contend with is the storms, which carry away the spat. 
Stone walls have been erected for the shelter of the mussels, which 
mitigate to some extent the force of the waves. Wattling has also 
been tried, but without much success. In spite of the storms, 
however, the mussels are good and increasing. 
The bay to the north is on the Basalt of the Great Whin Sill, 
and on the south bank of the Waren there is limestone of the 
Carboniferous Limestone series. It is chiefly on this south side 
that the mussels grow. A large mass of small mussels was 
thriving well in 1905, which had lodged on ground to the south- 
east, at some distance from the other mussels. The spatting in 
1904 and 1905 was particularly satisfactory. The spat lodges 
generally on the ground where there is fine gravel mixed with clay 
and where the tide covers them only for two to four hours a day or 
less, consequently when the mussels grow bigger they have not 
enough food, and die for want of it. Those that lodge at the four 
hours level grow bigger, but still have not enough food ; trans- 
planting is therefore necessary. The mussels are from a year and 
a half to two years old when they are lifted and planted in the 
stream-channels, where they are covered for six to seven hours each 
tide or even not uncovered at all, and these last are perhaps the 
best. Fig. I. shows part of the bed at Budle, where the mussels 
are about four hours out of water at each tide ; in the back- 
ground the mussels are always under water. The mussels reach 
bait size quickly, and are generally allowed to fatten for a year, 
so that at four years they are ready to be sold for bait or food, 
but are often left until they are five or six years old. The un- 
covered mussels are to he seen in groups of five or six, with a little 
seaweed, Fucus serratus, and partly buried in the sand. They are 
large, 3 — 3^ inches long or more, and these are from four to six 
years old. Those attaching themselves to stones are smaller, and 
many of these grow on the specially built low stone walls. They 
* See Professor A. Mock, ‘‘On Mussel Culture on the Coast of Northumberland.” — 
Northumberland Fisheries Report for 1898, p. 33; and Mr. William King, ‘‘Mussels and 
Mussel Culture,” 1891. 
