JAPANESE OYSTER-CU LTURE 
35 
and Rapana bezoar L. — are removed. Starfish are not troublesome. Further trans- 
planting takes place, usually at the end of the second season, and in still deeper 
water the oyster attains finally its marketable size. 
REGULATION OF OYSTER-CULTURE BY THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT. 
All cultivable grounds, whether for oysters, other shellfish, or seaweed, are — in 
Aki, at least — the property of the prefecture and can be neither sold nor sub- 
rented. All cultivable tracts are surveyed, the lots tending to decrease in size as 
the estimated value of the property increases. The mode of laying out concessions 
can perhaps be best understood by reference to plate 7, copied from a Government 
chart. The farms are rented auction fashion to the highest bidder, and the tenants 
have the privilege of renewing their leases indefinitely at the original rentals, a 
privilege, however, which can not be used speculatively. When at the termination 
of a lease the property passes again into the hands of the prefecture it is at once 
advertised and rerented. In addition to the yearly rental the property is subject 
to a small local tax upon the total area of each farm, and to a charge of 1 per cent 
of the rental to cover the expenses of administering the oyster-cultural bureau of 
the prefecture. This series of taxes impresses the stranger as formidable, until he 
learns that it does not represent an accumulation of taxes, but rather an itemized 
statement as to the apportionment of public, funds made thus in accordance with 
local custom. Rental of concessions from the prefecture, it should further be said, 
brings with it certain privileges in marketing the oysters in Osaka. 
Fig. 37. — Detail of the living ground shown in ground plan in preceding figure. 
Bamboo rods 3 to 4 feet high. 
