EUROPEAN METHODS OF OYSTER-CULTURE. 
383 
fry. There remained also to determine the location of the oyster supplies whose 
spawning products insured the general productivity of the region. That these 
supplies existed was undoubted, since, on account of irregularity in spawning, the 
supply of cultivated oysters could not be regarded as adequate to furnish the myriads 
of spat which made production in the East Schelde profitable. 
It was at first thought that large natural beds existed seaward, but systematic 
dredgings carried on by a government steamer proved conclusively what the fisher- 
men had always claimed, that natural beds did not occur in that direction. Unex- 
pectedly, however, it was afterwards found that extensive banks of oysters were safely 
sheltered at the foot of the dikes, and these had been the undoubted source of fertility 
of the East Schelde. There had long been a law which, with a view to protect the 
stone defenses at the foot of the dikes, had forbidden the use of dredging implements 
of any description within 500 meters from the coast. There had thus inadvertently 
been allowed to remain, as a fringe circling the Schelde, a strip of natural undisturbed 
oyster-bearing land, to serve most conveniently in place of extensive and localized 
natural banks. The conditions of these fringing banks have since been clearly deter- 
mined, and, from examinations made by a diver, charts have been prepared showing 
the size and position of these unsuspected sources of oysters. The Dutch system of 
protecting the natural banks will accordingly be seen to differ very little in its end 
from that of France, where, in general, governmental grounds are only exceptionally 
to be dredged upon, and where the rigid preservation of natural undisturbed oyster 
banks is regarded as the most fruitful aid to the oyster industry. 
The management of a cultural establishment in the East Schelde can, after these 
preliminaries, be better understood. As a practical consideration it may, however, be 
noted that each lessee of oyster property has found it to his advantage to secure plots 
at different points scattered throughout the Schelde Basin. By this means he has 
found that all branches of his industry may be carried on at a minimum cost. He 
may, for example, collect his seed oysters on tiles at one favorable point of the basin, 
where he can not, either on account of interfering with navigation or of danger from 
cold and storms, allow them to remain during the winter. He must then transfer 
them to another plot which, from depth of water and favorable conditions of bottom, 
insures their safety during cold weather. He must also have a series of inclosures 
(parks) in shallow water, where conditions for growth and fattening may be more 
advantageously given. It may be convenient, in discussing the processes of Dutch 
oyster-culture, to consider them as : (1) those of production, i. e., collecting seed oysters ; 
(2) those of deep-water culture; (3) those of culture in inclosures. It will be remem- 
bered that in French oyster-culture, production and elevage in inclosures were alone 
included, and that it was exceptional from the natural character of localities that an 
eleveur might at the same time collect his seed oyster. In the East Schelde all 
branches of the industry come naturally in the province of the culturist, because, 
practiced in the same locality, each culturist would have as good an opportunity to 
excel in each branch as any of his immediate neighbors. 
