486 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



all other sea-farms in France : the farmers, we regret to say, 

 are only "tenants at will," and liable at any moment to be 

 ejected, (a) 



A " marm," or almost anyone calling himself so, and 

 possessing the qualifications of a boat, or even of only a 

 pair of bare legs, may have an order which secures him 

 about 2^- acres below high-tide level, as an oyster "pare," 

 Within this limit he may prevent anybody, not only from 

 poaching by taking up his shell-fish, but also from doing 

 anything which may injure his chance of successful "ostrea- 

 culture." 



These privileges are conferred upon him for nothing. 

 It is considered to the advantage of the State to do so, for 

 this sea-farm keeps him on the shore, as a man who may 

 be called upon to take his part in coast or naval defence. 

 But the person thus put in possession must protect his own 

 property. If he be alone, as many are, with no one to 

 help but the members of his family, his wife and son, or 

 daughter, he must have his abode on the shore, near to his 

 concession, so that he may watch over it himself. Others, 

 who cannot be classed as being among the number of the 

 maritime community, may nevertheless have a little water 

 territory assigned to them as their individual property, for 

 a payment of from thirty to fifty francs per annum, a sum 

 which is practically only nominal, (b] 



Notwithstanding this disadvantage (the drawback of 

 being only "tenants at will"), the work of oyster culture 

 has gone bravely forward, and it is calculated, in spite of 

 the bad spatting of the last three years, that there is a stock 

 of oysters in the beds accumulated in only six years of 



(a) " Harvest of the Sea." 



(b} " Oyster Culture." By the Marquis of Lome. Good Words, 



March, 1890. 



