24 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
grounds and its concessions are keenly sought. At low tide it bristles with closely 
set oyster farms and from a distance reminds one, save in color, of a region of 
European vineyards. Each farm is a simple inclosure formed by “ shibi ” or bamboo 
stalks, with or without interlacing branches. (Of. tigs. 4 to 9.) Bamboo in this, as 
in many other arts and trades of the Japanese, possesses many advantages. It is 
durable even in salt water (good material lasting three years or thereabouts) ; it is 
The black lines in figs. 8 and 9 represent newly arranged bamboo collectors, the dotted lines 
the collectors of the second year. Direction of current is indicated by arrows. 
light and strong, gives an interlacing series of branches and leaves which in texture 
serve admirably for the attachment of spat, and which give, moreover, a great extent 
of attachable surface. In addition the bamboo stalks can be readily put in place and 
removed ; they are easy to obtain in any locality, and their cheapness is not one of 
their smallest virtues. 
In the present farms shibi are planted in position every spring at a time which the 
