OYSTER CULTURE IN FRANCE. 495 



resemble the fisherwomen of other countries. The Scotch 

 fishwives do all the business connected with the trade car- 

 ried on by their husbands ; it is the husbands' duty to cap- 

 ture the fish only, and the moment they come ashore their 

 duties cease, and those of their wives and daughters begin 

 with the sale and barter of the fish. 



Before going further, it may be stated that the best 

 mode of receiving the spawn of the oyster has not been 

 determined. M. Coste, whose advice is well worthy of 

 being followed, recommended the adoption of fascines of 

 brushwood to be fixed over the natural oyster-beds, in 

 order to intercept the young ones ; others again, as we 

 have just seen, have adopted the pares, and have success- 

 fully caught the spawn on dykes constructed for that pur- 

 .pose ; but Dr. Kemmerer has invented a tile, which he 

 covers with some kind of composition, that can, when 

 occasion requires, be easily peeled off, so that the crop of 

 oysters that may be gathered upon it can be transferred 

 from place to place with the greatest possible ease, and 

 this plan is useful for the transference of the oyster from 

 the collecting pare to the fattening claire. The composition 

 and the adhering oyster may all be stripped off in one 

 piece, and the tile may be coated for future use. Tiles are 

 exceedingly useful in aiding the oyster-breeder to avoid 

 the natural enemies of the oyster, which are very numerous, 

 especially at the periods when it is young and tender. 



The oysters may be peeled off the tiles when they are 

 six or seven months old. Spat-collectors of wood have 

 also been tried with considerable success. Hitherto these 

 tiles have been very successful, although it is thought by 

 experienced breeders that no bottom for oysters is so good 

 as the natural one of " cultch," as the old oyster-shells are 

 called ; but the tile is often of service in catching the 



