Fresh Water.

The fresh water which contributes so much to the high quality of the Royal Whitstable oyster is neither that of the Thames nor the Medway, both of which, probably, sweep wide of these beds, but the two or three streams or "freshets" which flow off the marsh-lands between Whitstable and Faversham Creek, over the beds and flats. These small streams obtain some warmth from the sun in their narrow courses, and perhaps convey certain seeds of water plants and other products which make for fattening, and supplement their marine diet of infusoria and microscopic vegetables. Too much fresh water is bad for oysters, for they may become too fat and die.

The drought which prevailed in Kent, as in other parts of England in 1901, was the cause of verv little fresh water coming off the land near Whitstable. To this shortage of rainfall is attributed the fact that the oysters there did not fatten properly, and failed to reach the high excellence of former years. The greatest depth of water over the Company's beds at any tide is 22 feet, and the least depth 6 feet. This is very different to the celebrated beds at Cancale in Brittany and other places, which are left high, and practically- dry, at low tide, and where it is an interesting sight to watch the fishermen and women arranging and sorting the oysters, and selecting those fit for market. The bay in which these beds are situate is very large and well protected by high cliffs, but it seems odd that the raised artificial banks between the various beds should remain perfect for any length of time as they appear to do.

Careful culture of the oyster beds is of course one of the requisites for the production of first-rate oysters, and it is not improbable that it is owing to great care in cultivation that the Whitstable natives have, for years past, even sur­passed in popularity the old favourite " Milton Oysters," which were formerly heard of among the cries of London, and which were fattened on beds near to the Whitstable grounds. It is literally true to say that the oyster beds at Whitstable are as carefully prepared and maintained, though always under water, as if they were flower beds on shore.

Typhoid Scare.

In view of the typhoid scare which seized on the public mind, and caused for a time a great diminution in the sale of oysters, the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company in 1895 called in the eminent chemist, Mr. Sidney Harvey, to conduct an exhaus­tive analytical and bacteriological examination of the oyster beds, grounds, and the sea water at Whitstable. He reported an entire absence of any noxious matter communi­cable by sewage, and of any injurious impregnations whatever. He particularly experimented with the oyster itself, to discover any injurious bacilli, but utterly failed to do so, and expressed the decided opinion that the Royal Whitstable native oyster could be safely used as an article of food.

It must have been to prevent any suspicion of their oysters being unwholesome that caused an Irish firm to recently advertise them as "sanitary oysters," approved by an analyst and carefully packed in seaweed. This is a hint which might perhaps be useful to jam makers and many purveyors of food. Sanitary jam, sanitary preserved pineapple, sanitary lobsters, and so on, might attract much custom from careful housekeepers.

The total extent of the Whitstable fisheries is somewhere about six square miles. Like other large oyster grounds, the quality varies in different parts, some parts being more fit for breeding oysters than for fattening, but a great part being better adapted for fattening. Of this total extent of oyster beds, the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company own the pick, being about 1^3/4 miles from north to south, and two miles from east to west, the actual laying ground being a mile square, the rest being used for moorings, marked off by fixed beacons in the shallow water, or "shalls" (pronounced shawls), as they are known locally, and by moveable anchored beacons like scaffold poles, in deep water, guarded day and night, all the year round, by the Company's three watch boats. Adjoining the Company's ground to the westward is the "Pollard" oyster fishery of almost equal extent, but not always wholly under water like the Company's. The Pollard fishery was formerly held by the Company under a license of mortmain from the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral, who are the owners. The Company gave up this fishery when times were bad, and it is now worked by a syndicate.

The Flats.

Running along outside the grounds of those fisheries lies the Faversham Oyster Fishery, and still further out to sea is the Ham Oyster Fisheries. On reference to Jacob's History of Faversham it appears that a company of Free Dredgers existed there in the time of Henry II., A.D., 1154, from whom the Dutch bought large quantities of oysters.

Eastward of the Whitstable fisheries and stretching for several miles along the coast of Kent are other grounds, many parts of which, in the quality of the soil and of the water, possess, though in a less degree, some of the advantages of the Whitstable grounds. The chief advantage, however, which the Whitstable Company's beds possess over these public grounds is, that a natural bank of boulders and shingle, still called Whitstable "Street," runs out into the sea at the eastern side of the Company's ground, and, as a breakwater, gives some protection to the shallower parts, which is not enjoyed by the corresponding portions of the more easterly grounds. This "Street" is supposed to have a Roman origin, and at very low tides traces of building foundations have been seen. It is now largely covered by shingle.

Northward and eastward of Whitstable therefore is a large extent of oyster grounds or flats, probably about thirty square miles, on which some of the spat of oysters fall, if they escape the beds.

All the true native oysters sold in England, with the exception of those obtained from the Essex coast, are obtained from these flats, and all others are known as "foreigners."