502 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



of the Wash, for example, once producing some of the 

 finest oysters in the kingdom, just as neglect has ruined 

 the most famous fishery of the west, which had its seat at 

 Milford Haven. The French, therefore, are not without 

 reason on their side in concluding to abolish the old close 

 time for oysters, and instead to prohibit the sale for food 

 of small, that is to say, immature oysters, which, apart from 

 being unfit for consumption, tend to unduly deplete the 

 beds. Apart from this, the circumstances which induced 

 the French to enact a close time in 1882, have undergone 

 a great change. The object in view was "to prevent the 

 destruction of young broods, to assist the restocking of 

 public and private grounds, and to protect the public 

 against oyster poisoning." It is now, however, found that 

 the several grounds where the oyster is cultivated are get- 

 ting rather over-stocked, and cases of oyster poisoning 

 supposed to have been due to the consumption of immature 

 and unhealthy fish are now extremely rare. 



In this country the mere mention of the French 

 oyster fisheries suggests the famous beds of Arcachon and 

 the Brest grounds which, by the way, are exempted from 

 the operation of the decree abolishing close time for the 

 fishery. There is no question but that the Arcachon 

 oyster-farm, under the careful supervision and encourage- 

 ment of the French Government, has been made a model 

 and example for all maritime peoples, and been successful 

 beyond all expectation. It exports young fish for fattening 

 to this and other countries, by the hundred millions yearly. 

 Indeed, our own Whitstable now derives its chief supply 

 of oysters for laying down from the French beds, and the 

 Kentish dredgers have no objection to selling the foreign 

 " settlers," which have grown fat in English waters, as 

 genuine "natives," though they know well enough the 



