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OYSTER-CULTURE AND DREDGING.

HOW THE BEDS ARB STOCKED. Oysters were brought Into fashion by the ancient Romans, who knew many varieties of them, although J most people nowadays generally. class j them into “Natives” and “Bluepoints.” As a matter of fact, our supply comes not only from Whitstable, Colchester, and America, says “Spare Moments,” (where they are picked up on the beach like cockles), I but from Scotland, Holland, Australia, and many other places. I Professor Huxley discovered that | they can live and breed in water almost anywhere which contains more than three per cent, of salt matter, although some pieces are found to be better than others for the planting of “beds” or “parks” for rearing purposes. Yet continuous life in water is not absolutely essential for the bivalves. W T e have all heard of j the “oysters that grow on trees.” i This is not in the least a joke. For I instance, in the West Indies they are I found by the hundred clinging to the branches of the mangrove tree. “Fry,” which is the spawn of the oyster, falls in tiny particles on the stones, shells, and rubbish at the bottom of the water, and grows into small white objects known as “apat.’ This develops into baby-oysters or “brood,” and It is this that the fishermen spend much of their time in collecting. Oysters are dear for much the same j reason as game ; they are proprietary articles kept in “preserves,” I “beds,” or “parks.” by private indii viduals or companies. Beyond these j preserves, which are marked off by | buoys, the fishermen can go “brood- | hunting” in the sea, and sell their i catches for restocking purposes to j the oyster-breeders who supply the fish-markets. The “brood” are gathered by the drag, dredge, or dredge-net, which rakes the bottom at any likely spot. It brings up a fearsome medley of fish, rubbish, crabs, and the enemies of the young oysters—the atarflsh, which consume them whole ; the dogwhelk, which bores a hole in the shell, and enjoys the soft core ; and the sea-urchin, or “burr,” which looks like a small, shelly hedgehog, which takes Its toll. The enemies of the brood are killed, and the edible fish and baby oysters sold. Sometimes the brood exist singly, other times in clusters, or attached to objects, and, on occasions, in the grown-up state. Having been sifted, they are packed In bags, and brought to “collecting-boats,” where they are weighed, and paid for by the °‘wash” of five gallons, at the rate of four shillings per wash. This brood is then planted, or dropped into the w’ater at the oyster parks by the handful, pretty much like the sowing of seed on land. Should the weather be bad, the fishermen go oystering at the shore beds for four-and-sixpence a day. What they have to do Is to pick up the oysters that are mature enough for the market, and place back the others. The brood oysters, before planting, are about the size oI a sixpence upwards until they are a year old. After that they grow larger, chiefly by the thickening of the shell up to and 1 beyond the third year, or maturity. Oysters differ in colour, according to whore they come from. Those from Spain are red ; other places produce brown green, and rainbow-speckled varieties. But if undiseased, whatever their source, for their bulk, there is nothing existing quite so peculiarly nutritious.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CROMARG19120226.2.49

Bibliographic details

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLIII, Issue 2286, 26 February 1912, Page 7

Word Count
576

OYSTER-CULTURE AND DREDGING. Cromwell Argus, Volume XLIII, Issue 2286, 26 February 1912, Page 7

OYSTER-CULTURE AND DREDGING. Cromwell Argus, Volume XLIII, Issue 2286, 26 February 1912, Page 7