Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1861-04-20
NO. SO.
MISCELLANEOUS READING.
PLANTING AND CULTIVATION OF THE
SEA
[ [Cersspondence Of tie ". Y. Erening Po.Ll

Correspondence Of tie N. Y. Ere"iny Po.tl
PARIS, March 20-What the French call
"the planting und cultivation Of the sea"
and the English, less ambitious in speech,
would be content to call "the artificial rails
ing fish," is carried OH in France with 4
perseverance and success which promise to
yield very valuable results, and at no dis
tant date. The various operations Of mod
ern pisciculture, due to the inventive genius
Of the humble fisherman Remy, and jealous
ly promoted by the labors of jndefatigable
NJ Jacques Coste, under the joint auspices
of the Imperial government and Of the So
ciety of Acclimation, are rapidly reduced
to a system at once easy Of application
and Of almost certain success, and destined,
apparently, to render the raising of fsh as
common as that of kline, sheep, wheat and
potatoes.
Rivers, lakes and ponds exhausted by the
improvident greed Of fishermen and the des-
truction Of the young fry, are stocked from
the great raising establishments founded in
various departments, and the coast of the
Channel the Atlantic and the Meditcrra-
nian are converted into oyster grounds, which
threaten. if their tenants continue to multi
ply as rapidly as they are now doing, to en-
sure a surfeit of that dainty for the entire
population of France.
TIE FIRST ARTIFICIAL OYSTER BED.-The
frsto the great artificial oyster-beds was un-
dertaken by NJ Coste, in 1857, in the bay Of
St. Brienne, on the northern coast of Britain
ny: The water is there exceedingly deep, and
the violence Of winds and weather added
greatly to the difficulties of this novel at
-. >L Il
fully overcome The entire surface Of tho
bottom Of the bay forming the pscicutural
farm is covered with fascines, composed Of
branches of trees strongly lashed together
and held down by heavy stones. Between
these fascines the bed Of the sea is paved
with oysters and muscle shells, pieces of rock,
tiles, fragments of pottery, destined to at
tract the spawn and afford to the youngest
oysters surface suitable to their develop
ment.
FlsH-FARNs-The success of the expert
ment at ST. Brienne has led to the formation
of similar ''fsh-farns" at Arcachon, the lie
de Re, and in the roadstead of Toulon, all Of
which are now cultivated with unremlttlng
care, and promise, according to the reports OF
the periodic inspections to which they arc
subjected by the agents of the government
and by those of the Society Of Acclmation,
to inaugurate new era in the annals OF fish
markets, and to create new and inexhaustl-
ble source of national wealth.
The last Investigations into the state OF the
ovster-beds of ST. Brienne, carried on by
members of the Council General of the de-
partment of the Cotes du Nord, under the di-
rection of the captains Of the Chamols, Plu-
vier and Eveil of the French navy, placed BY
the government at the disposition OF tho com
missioners charged to carry on the work OF
inspection, have given results that have far
surpassed the must sanguine expectations o!
the advocates of the new system. Every
time the drag was applied it brought up
over two Thousand oysters; and each OF
! three fascines of row No. 10, suuk in
1859, and just brought up for examins-
tion, was found to contain twenty thou
sand young oysters, from three to 6ve
centremetres in diameter. These fascines,
exhibited in various towns of Britanny
created universal amazement, and will proba-
bly, lead to the establishment of many new
beds. They were subsequently brought to
Paris for the Emperor's inspection, and lastly
were su omitted to the Academy of Sciences
creating there the same feeling of admira-
tion and astonishment which they excited
among the simple Breton peasants