Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-04-05
French Oysters.
From the st. James Gazette.


Twenty-one different places are now named
IN the commercial directory of France where
the oyster business is pursued on a large scale
and the latest official statistics OSSO) show that
upward Of 195, 000, 600 oysters are annually sent
to market.
The great objects Of the grower or breeder Of
the oyster are, first, to catch its young, most OF
which would otherwise perish; when caught
to transfer them to favorable place, and there
to protect them from their natural enemies
while they grow to marketable size. His
starting point is therefore the laying down OF
the mature oyster to produce "spat," and for
this purpose spot must be chosen where the
sea-water holds mud in solution for the food of
the oyster. There must not be too much mud,
or the oysters will be smothered and die.
the bed of the park; 80 that, although
it brings mud, it may also prevent it from
settling to any great extent. That it should
be tidal current is also Indispensable as
at the proper season the oyster prefers to eject
its spat each tide when the inward flow has COM
menced; and the current must not be too VIC
lent, or it will carry away ali the young. Por-
tons OF tidal estuaries between the lines of the
neap and spring low tides have been found to
answer best to all these requirements. Here
river water brings the mud and debris necessary
tor food; and the sea-water gives the salts
tons the parks are uncovered only at the lowest
ebb of the spring tides; and the workmen can
then do what isrequired in examining or clean
Ing the bottom and laying down the old or fix
ing the apparatus for collecting the young oys-
tiers. These collectors were long difficulty;
and, after endless experiments, the commonest
arched hOuse-tiles, covered with whitewash and
fixed in horizontal punches with wire on stakes
about yard long, or on wooden farmewOrks
called hives" are pronounced to be the most
successful of all. Ten million of these tiles are
now said to be in use in the 1850 tidal parks of
Arcachon, formed on those grassy margins Of its
basin, which are called crdssdts.
The young oyster, with its embryonic shells
and the machinery Of hairs which keep it STIR
ring in the water, drifts about with the tide I'M
til it meets with surface proper for attachment.
The tiles having been found to tempt them bet
ter than anything, the lime coating was added
to- render detachment Of the small shells easy
afterward. 1t serves another purpose, too, in
assisting rapidly to produce those protecting
shells. nine-tenths Of which consist Of carbonate
OF lime A short time after the spat appears
the young oyster il all goes well, may be per-
ceived affixed to the tiles and looking like tiny
yellowish stains. AS many as 1,70O have been
counted on one very exceptional tile at Area
chon-a very small proportion. however, Of the
one or two million which each mother oyster
is said to produce. The apparatus of hairs soon
atrophies, and the young fry in a few weeks
reach the size of lentil or a small split pea
Growth is thenceforward rapid enough, chiefly
In the summer; and on the river Ter, in the
Morbhan, they measure three-quarters of an
inch at eight months old, and an inch and three
quarters year after being spawned
The next operation of the grower is to trans
plant the young oysters. They are taken off
dexterously by women with touch of flexible
knife; but slight injuries often occur for the
little mOlluscs have taken all the lime-cOating
for their shells and have thus got q firm hold of
the bare tile itself. And here should be men
toned an ingenious invention Of Dr. Kemmerer
On the tile itself he first places layer of
damped paper, which the lime-cement, after
ward applied, preserves from the sea-water
Paper and lime can both be removed entire with
all the oysters; thus preserving for further use
the tiles, which many growers used to snip with
pincers into little bits for each oyster, sooner
than run the risk OF injuring the under shells
with the knife. Soft mortar is often used in
stead Of paper. The number of oysters which a
park will yield is considerable. One of about
ten acres at ArcachOn gave five million young
oysters In one favorable season from 4OO, 600 old
ones laid down the year before Here the gov
eminent maintains res rved Banks Of 500 acres
which are fished only every three years, and in
1879 twenty-five million oysters were gathered
from them.