26 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Such an inclosure in Kaida Bay is practically the whole stock in trade of the 
culturist, for in it spat is taken and the oysters grow attached to the bamboo until 
the time when they are sent to market. From the permanent character of the park, 
therefore, the culturist has been led to ingenious arrangements by which the shape 
of the park can be retained and the oysters grown, young and old, side by side. To 
accomplish this each fence is usually formed of a double row of shibi, as indicated in 
figs. 8, 9, of which one row is of the second 
year and the other a new one. The latter 
is often added as the older row is removed. 
The fences in this locality are made of 
the more delicate species of bamboo, 
“hachikn.” The stalks are trimmed in 
lengths of about 5 feet and are inserted a 
foot deep in the bottom. The distance 
between the double rows of shibi is inten- 
tionally narrow, so that their opposing 
branches can interlace. (Fig. 7.) 
The foregoing description refers to 
Fig. 11. — Diagram of a small oyster farm of labyrinthine 
pattern. Ondo. 
the commoner type of park in Kaida. 
Occasionally some are seen of a more 
complicated pattern, as in fig. 9, and, 
rarely, some in which the double rows of shibi are placed parallel instead of trans- 
verse to the main axis of the park, as in fig. 10. An excellent example of this type 
is pictured in plate 3, from a photograph which was taken at the end of a season, the 
shibi showing well-grown oysters (from park at Tanna). Rarer still is a form in 
which a labyrinth-like arrangement of the hedges of shibi prevails (fig. 11), or even 
a concentric pattern (fig. 12). In all these forms, however, the arrangement is such 
that many eddies will be formed about and within the rows of the shibi, since these 
eddies have been found con- 
ducive to the attachment of 
the young oyster. 
In t he foregoing types of 
parks the visitor notes that 
the height and strength of 
the shibi, their simple or 
branching character, to- 
gether with the closeness in 
their arrangement, vary 
somewhat widely in different 
localities. Occasionally an 
arrangement which alternates old and new shibi in the same row is found to be 
adopted advantageously. 
At the close of the cultural process, that is, at the end of the second year, it 
remains only to remove the marketable oysters from the shibi. This is done during 
the favorable tides, the culturist using a pick-like instrument (fig. 13) with one hand 
and seizing the shibi with the other. For the protection of this hand a curious 
heavy but open mitten is used, figured in fig. 17. After the oysters are detached 
Fig. 12.— Diagram of an oyster farm in which the collectors are arranged 
in circular and concentric order. Middle clear space used as a living 
ground. Itsukushima. 
