248 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



enormous sale in Thames-street and near the Borough- 

 market. These " scuttlemouths," as they were called, 

 were usually thrown down in a yard, had a few pails of 

 water dashed over them, and were then placed on a barrow, 

 or conveyed to a stall. But some of the better class of 

 dealers laid down their oysters carefully, and gave them 

 oatmeal to fatten on. (<?) 



The number of oysters sold by the costermongers 

 amounts to 124,000,000 a year. These at four a penny 

 would realise the large sum of ,129,650. We may, there- 

 fore, safely assume that ,125,000 is spent yearly in oysters 

 in the streets of London. (/") 



A farm of four acres, if well handled, may give occu- 

 pation, and even bring pecuniary gain, to the possessor. 

 A garden, for those who thoroughly understand and enjoy 

 it, may secure untold pleasures, and perhaps help to pay 

 the rent of the cottage. But an " oyster-bed' is a plea- 

 sure an el dorado a mine of wealth, in fact, which fills 

 the owners' pockets with gold, and affords to the million 

 untold gastronomical enjoyment and healthy food. On 

 the money part of the question, M. Laviciare, Commissary 

 of the Maritime Inscription, in his 1860 report to M. Coste 

 (on the results of experiments made for the improvement 

 of oyster-beds in the locality of the bay of St. Brieux, on 

 the coast of Brittany,) furnishes the following information : 

 "Between March and May, 1859, about 3,000,000 oysters, 

 taken from different parts of the sea, were distributed in 

 ten longitudinal beds in the above bay. The bottom was 

 previously covered with old oyster shells and boughs of 

 trees arranged like fascines. To these the young oysters 



(e) " Adventures of an Oyster," p. 165. 

 ( f) Mayhew's " London Labour and London Poor." 



