Il68 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



coating of lime. This form was first suggested by Dr. 

 Kemmerer, and consequently the name of " Kemmer tiles " 

 has been <nven to them. His invention consisted in laying 



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a piece of damped paper on the tile which, when covered 

 with cement, was easily protected from sea-water ; both 

 paper and lime was then easily removed by the " cultack" 

 (a knife used for the purpose of separating oyster bundles 

 and detaching them from collectors), the tile being thus 

 preserved for future use. Before Dr. Kemmerer's invention, 

 the tiles used to be broken up by pincers, it being deemed 

 preferable to sacrifice the tiles rather than risk damaging 

 the young oyster by removal. This plan is not yet wholly 

 abandoned ; as in the Morbihan, where the authorities do 

 not, as at Arcachon, put an embargo on the sale of oysters 

 under five centimeters in diameter, it is the custom with 

 some cultivators to break up their tiles into four or five 

 pieces and sell them thus, with brood attached, for laying 

 down elsewhere. These potsherds are called hull res d 

 tessons, and are eagerly bought by many owners of fatten- 

 ing establishments, as they partly dispense with the use of 

 ambulances for the protection of the young brood ; crabs 

 and other vermin being unable to attack them with the 

 same facility when attached to tiles as when they are single. 

 Oysters grown in this fashion are not exposed to the danger 

 of injury during removal from the tiles, but, being crowded 

 together, do not become so well formed afterwards as their 

 earlier liberated brothers. The idea of these huitres a les- 

 sons originated with Dr. Gressy. 



Dr. Kemmerer's invention of applying paper before the 

 cement has now given way to an easily detached mixture. 

 The tiles are coated with common lime and water, and with 

 hydraulic cement. At Auray the hydraulic lime is applied 

 first, at Arcachon the reverse. Tiles are cheap in France, 



