JAPANESE OYSTER-CULTURE. 
27 
they are taken from the ground by means of the rake shown in fig. 15, placed in 
baskets, fig. 18, and carried thence in the usual oyster boat often to the mouth of 
some adjacent river, where they are thrown out and raked over. By the latter pro- 
cess, “ drinking ” the oysters in fresher water, they increase in size and become 
cleaner, a process, by the way, quite similar to that employed in France, in England, 
and often in America. 
Ftg. 13. — Oyster hook used for dislodging well-grown oysters from the sliibi. 
At Kanawa, an important cultural ground, a similar method to that of Ivaida 
Bay is employed. The cultural area is not large but it is very productive, and here 
they have found it profitable to plant shibi in close rows at right angles to the coast- 
line, as shown in fig. 19. 
OYSTER-CULTURAL METHODS OF KUSATSU. 
The oyster-grounds of Kusatsu are the best of those situated west of Hiroshima, 
but all of these, and of this entire region, are essentially the same, as far as cultural 
Ftg. 14.— Oyster rake, gofuze-guwa, used for “cultivating” the oysters, i. e., stirring them about roughly as they 
lie on the living grounds, so as to break off the delicate shell margin. 
Fig. 15.— Oyster rake, nihon-zume, used to gather oysters fallen from the shibi, or to select oysters to be detached. 
Ftg. 10.— Oyster rake, yatsugo, used to collect marketable oysters from the living ground. 
methods are concerned. They extend along the western coast 7 or more miles from 
Hiroshima, at points indicated on the map (fig. 1). In these localities oysters are 
cultivated at greater depths than in other waters of Aki, for it has here been found 
that under the deeper conditions the shellfish continue to increase in size after the 
