878 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



at Arcachon are, however, at all equal in flavour to 

 English or Scotch ' natives/ or to the oysters of Ostend 

 and Holstein." 



And, as a supplementary item, with respect to Poole, 

 the following from the Poole Herald (July 25, 1889) : 



" OYSTER CULTURE. Readers will remember that a few 

 months ago the Fowley Oyster Fishery Company imported 

 from the South of France a cargo of about a million and a 

 quarter of young oysters, which were laid down in the 

 Company's beds in Poole Harbour to fatten. We are glad 

 to learn that the experiment has been remarkably success- 

 ful, that the young oysters have thriven well, and are many 

 of them already in condition fit for the market." 



In the year iSy^'ys (says Mobius) there 

 were produced in this bay (Arcachon) 112,000,000 artifici- 

 ally-grown oysters, and in i8y5-'76 about 196,000,000. 

 This important yield of the last year, as compared with the 

 poor returns of former years, may be accounted for princi- 

 pally through two causes : 



First. The natural oyster-beds in the Bay of Arcachon 

 had had complete rest for the entire two years immediately 

 preceding these rich harvests. During the years iSyo-'yr 

 they had produced only 4,897,000 oysters ; but after this 

 period of rest, in November, 1874, 8500 persons assem- 

 bled, and in the space of three hours, during which time 

 the gathering was in progress, 40,360,000 oysters were 

 taken from the sea. A great number of these were trans- 

 planted, as breeding oysters, to the prepared beds, which 

 covered altogether an actual area of sea-bottom of 2669 

 hectares (about 5338 acres). 



Second. The former imperfect method of caring for 

 the oysters had been improved to the extent that the young 



