EUROPEAN METHODS OF OYSTER-CULTURE. 
381 
OYSTER CULTURE IN HOLLAND. 
The Dutch have come to be looked upon in Europe generally as the most suc- 
cessful administrators of the oyster industry. A potent, not. unnaturally a selfish, 
reason for this, no doubt, has been the direct importance of their fisheries.. In the case 
of oyster-culture an industry has been fostered which not only gives employment to 
its poorer coast population, but pays into the national treasury, in rental of state lands 
hitherto absolutely profitless, an annual income of nearly a half million of dollars, a 
sum not inconsiderable to so small and thrifty a country as Holland. In view of the 
keen competition for leaseholds of cultural lands, and in consideration of the neces- 
sarily limited area devoted to culture, in all not as great by half as that of Long Island 
Sound, these facts seem to demonstrate that the management, both on the side of 
the government and of the culturists, has been a prudent and energetic one. The 
processes, both administrative and cultural, have in specialization become somewhat 
different from those of France, consequent in the main upon changes in local conditions. 
They are, therefore, interesting to study, especially as almost every modification has 
been evolved democratically, of the people and for the people. 
The history of the government’s policy in the administration of the industry may 
be briefly outlined as follows: The natural banks had been overdredged, practically 
destroyed, the usual fate of the European oyster banks, those of Germany alone 
excepted. This state of affairs, it must be noted, came to pass, although dredging 
had been rigidly confined to no more than five months of the year (October to Febru- 
ary). The banks of the Znyder Zee were destroyed and the overdredging in the richest 
natural grounds, those in the estuary of the Schelde, had rendered them well-nigh 
profitless. Interest on the side of government appears first to have been aroused 
by a petition coming from energetic culturists, who desired that lands should be 
conceded to them and that a thorough study be made of the life history of the oyster. 
A number of these gentlemen had independently visited the regions of French pro- 
duction and understood clearly the value of artificial culture in their own localities. 
In 1870 the course of the administration was determined, and has since been fol- 
lowed with but slight modifications. Its underlying principle, an heretical doctrine 
it doubtless seemed at that day, especially as even the French had not gone so far in 
the matter of innovations, was to do away with public dredging entirely, to survey 
off' the natural oyster-grounds and their surrounding waters, and to lease these tracts 
at prices to be determined by open competition. This course was at first strongly 
and bitterly opposed by the fishermen, who (as in New York, Connecticut, or North 
Caroliua), not knowing the benefits which might arise, feared the direct loss of what 
they regarded as a patrimony, and who, as a major reason, were not anxious to pay 
for what had formerly been almost free. The survey was finally completed, the east 
arm of the Schelde, the region most favored, being marked off in shore and deep areas, 
each of about 12 acres, by lines more or less perpendicular to the direction of the 
stream. These were then put up at auction and leased. 
