EUROPEAN METHODS OF OYSTER-CULTURE. 
373 
which again by contract adds nearly $1 to the price per ton of the oysters. The lessee 
has finally full liberty as to the selling, the market price being more or less determined 
by the price and duty of the Dutch and English oysters. The price at the Husum 
station varies between $3 and $4 per 100 oysters. 
From a practical standpoint it is to be noted that on the governmental side in 
this system of leasing oyster property the state is assured that the natural grounds 
shall not be destroyed and that the single contractor is thus made directly answerable 
for excesses. On the other hand, it would be seriously questioned by the French or 
Dutch culturist whether this monopoly in management would be most profitable in 
the end. It certainly does not tend to reduce the price of oysters, because it does 
not favor the granting to individuals of concessions for cultural purposes near the 
natural oyster banks. It is certainly the antithesis of the open competition in oyster - 
culture which has furnished the coasts of France and Holland with one of their most 
prosperous industries. The French reserve the natural banks merely as a source of 
seed oysters artificially collected in the neighborhood. The German industry exists 
solely upon the annual surplus of its natural supplies. 
The question why the same system of culture which has proven so successful in 
France should not have been successfully introduced in the Wattenmeer is thus impor- 
tant both as a biological consideration and a matter of governmental policy. Prof. 
Mobius, after a consideration of the matter, has urged the following reasons why all 
efforts to extend oyster-produciug areas and to introduce artificial culture would be 
lacking in practical success. He states in summary that the unstable character of 
the bottom of the Wattenmeer, together with the sediment-bearing water, is the most 
adverse condition. This restricts the natural limits of the oyster-bearing areas, caus- 
ing any increments to be temporary at the best, and renders it impracticable, from the 
point of expense, to solidify areas for the extension of the natural banks. His second 
reason is that the biological conditions of the Wattenmeer are so exactly poised that 
the oyster supply can not be permanently and largely increased, mainly on account 
of failure in quantity of oyster food. And third, the reason which is indorsed by Dr. 
Hoek, that the coldness of the northern winter, together with the remarkable storm 
tides, renders cultivation impracticable. 
As far as the silt-bearing character of the water and the muddiuess of local- 
ity are concerned, it is certainly of interest to note to what a remarkable degree 
these natural difficulties have been overcome by French culturists during the past 
decade. Production as well as elevage is brought to yield practical results in localities 
which were recently thought to be less than valueless, where neighboring oyster beds 
not merely did not increase, but were able to exist only by vigorous culture. Even in 
regions most favorable for production the adverse condition of muddy shore lines is 
not infrequent, and appears in fact to be far more general than in the neighborhood of 
the islands Sylt, Amrum, Bom, or Fohr. Prof. Mobius has already commented upon 
the muddy character of the Arcachon basin.* In the Auray region, in the neighbor- 
hood of the natural banks, a large part of the tidal shore has so little consistency that 
* Ueber Austern- mid Miesmuschelzucht, 9-12. The discussion here given of the natural conditions 
of Arcachon leads one to expect anything hut the development of a prosperous industry. We learn, 
for example, that “die grossen Ervvartungen, mit welclien die kiinstliche Austernzucht im Bassin von 
Arcachon in Angritf geuommen wurde, sind leider niclit erfiillt worden. In Bordeaux hdrte ich aus 
zuverliissigen Munde, dass viel Geld dabei verloren worden sei.” 
