JAPANESE OYSTER-CULTURE. 
25 
culturists have determined by experience to be most favorable for the set of spat, 
usually about the middle of April. Their arrangement and mode of replacement 
are as follows: Shibi are brought to the oyster-grounds in skiffs and deposited on the 
flats as they become exposed by the receding tide. The culturist will have had the 
boundaries of his concession staked out, and lie has but to construct his fences of 
shibi as quickly as possible to take advantage of the hours of low tide. As a time- 
saving device, he has already had the ends of the shibi sharpened so that they can 
be thrust deeply (one-quarter or one-fifth their entire length) into the soft bottom. 
Should the bottom prove hard, however, holes are first made for the shibi by means 
Fig. 10. — Diagram of an oyster farm in which are combined the longitudinal and transverse modes of 
arranging the bamboo collectors. Kusatsu. 
of an iron-shod pick, shown in fig. 3. This the workman sometimes presses down 
with his foot, hence the lateral support near the head of the implement. 
According to the usual type of oyster farms in Kaida, the main boundaries are 
planted nearly parallel to the tide marks. Similar rows of shibi are next thrown 
out in the direction of the middle line of the park. (Figs. 8, 9. ) They do not, however, 
meet, but leave an open median space passing through like an aisle. Thus on either 
side of the main aisle of the oyster park there are rows of transverse alleyways, each 
about 6 feet wide, which terminate often blindly at the main fence of the park. Details 
in arrangement are given in figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7, fig. 6 showing a horizontal projection 
of the shibi of fig. 5. The fences and partitions of shibi stand about waist high. 
