OYSTER CULTURE.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 39, 30 August 1864, Page 3

OYSTER CULTURE.

A very interesting lecture on "Oyster Culture" was read on Wednesday evening, the 18th May, at the Society of Arts, by Mr James Lowe, joint secretary to the Acclimatisation Society of * Great Britain, Mr W t .Hawes in the chair. The lecturer commenced by stating that the art of oyster culture was by no means a new one, having been carried on with perfect success by the inhabitants of." the borders of Lake Fusaro, in Italy, from the time of 4 the Romans to the. present day. Fifteen years ago M. de Quatrefages, the eminent French naturalist, called, the attention of the. Academic des Sciences to the depreciation and abandonment of many oyster beds on the shores of the Channel. In 1858 the gradual increase of the price of oysters in France, consequent on- their growing scarcity, attracted the attention of M. Corte, the celebrated pisciculturist, and since that time several beds on the codst of Brittany, and' elsewhere, have been entirely renewed through the exertions of this gentleman. In Britain the oyster was also becoming scarcer and scarcer every day, having doubled in price during the last few years, and if some remedy was not speedily found these delicious bivalves would soon become extinct. Luckily, the shores of the British islands afford numberless localities in wliich oyster culture coidd be carried on with ease and success. The method adopted by the French cultivators as carried on on the foreshores of that part of the shore lying between high and low water mark was thus described : — The shore is divided into allotments by means of low walls, each allotment being called a park, in wliich are placed tiles covered with old shells, bits of rock, &c, fixed in their places by cement. It is upon these that the spawn, or spat, of the oyster collects and attaches itself. Besides these parks there are etalages, or places on the foreshore where the oysters are laid, down to fatten for market ; claires, or enclosures, having similar objects, and viviers, or vivaria, where the oysters are stored. The conditions necessary to insure success are few. A fine sheltered shore, free from weeds and muscles, and with just a little but not too much mud, in best fitted for an oyster park. For large operations in a considerable depth of water, like that carried on so successfully by M. Coste when he re-stocked the bay of St. Brieuc, nothing is better than large fascines, of branches bound together with a thin chain of galvanised iron wire, and sunk by means of a heavy stone. For small parks on the foreshore, the tiles already spoken of are used, which are the invention of Dr. Kemmcrer, the able and zealous oysterculturist of the Tsle de Rhe. Mr. Lowe then gave an account of the life of an oyster, from the spat to the fattened native, from wliich it appears that although each oyster produces spawn amounting to millions of individuals, yet hardly half-a-dozen of them ever arrive at maturity. Oyster culture has already taken firm root in the island of Guernsey, in several localities pointed out by Mr. Lowe as particulary adapted to the purpose while visiting the island, about three years since, and preparations are now being made at Prittlewell, between Southend and Shoeburyness, for the establishment of oyster-parks on the French principle by the Fish and Oyster Culture Company. The company has already laid down 1,000 bushels of full-grown oysters, whicli have been spread over about five acres of ground in such a way as to leave room for the placing of 50,000 Eommerer collecting tiles. It is calculated that if each tile collects only 10 spat, the crop secured in one year will amount to 500,000 oysters, the value of which will be £1,000. Mr Lowe then alluded to the legal difficulties standing in tho way of oyster culture. Tift foreshore belongs to the Crown, but upon proper representations being made, parliament would no doubt see fit to cede that right under certain limitations. An interesting discussion followed, led by Mr Ffennell, Inspector of Fisheries. He said that the coast of Ireland abounded in localities most favorable to oyster culture, and instanced the fact of accidental oyster beds having been found in several places. In Cork river a most profitable oyster bed was now being worked, which owed its origin to a number of unsaleable oysters having been thrown overboard from a vessel anchored just above the harbor. If such results were due merely to a accident, how much greater might be expected from systematic cultivation. A great deal of opposition had been raised to oyster culture, and it had been said that a number of poor people would be deprived of their bread, but no stress need be laid on these representations, as it was a well-known fact that almost every oyster fishery in this country was decaying. He would mention one on the coast of Ireland which a few years since sent oysters to nirrkct, the freight alone of which amounted to £1,000 per week, whereas the total produce now hardly reached £300 a year. Mr Ffennell was followed by Messrs Mitchell, Ridley, Ashton, Buckland, Tegetmhier, and several others, all of whom were unanimous in their opinion that oyster-culture should at once bo established in this country. A vote of thanks was then passed to Mr Lowe by acclamation for his very interesting and eloquent paper, and the meeting separated. The lecture- was copiously illustrated by a large number specimens collected by Mr Lowe during an official visit paid by him last year to the oyster gronnds on the west coast of France, and by photographs of oysters in different stages of development, exhibited by means of the magic lantern.