OYSTER CULTURE IN FRANCE. 517 



Between Fort Samson and the establishment are the 

 buildings where are carried on the various manipulations 

 incident to oyster culture, such as separating dredged 

 oysters from one another, sorting, packing, &c. Fourteen 

 women find employment all the year round at this estab- 

 lishment. 



It may be asked what is the object of these 32 basins ; 

 what are the methods employed by Messrs. Febvre and 

 Andre for training in the first stage, rearing, fattening, and 

 greening the oyster ? The two semicircular reservoirs at 

 Fort Samson, which first receive the sea water, are appro- 

 priated to the preservation of spat. One portion of one of 

 these two receptacles is used for the experiments to which 

 M. Febvre has applied himself on the artificial fattening 

 of the oyster, according to methods practised by certain 

 American rearers. These experiments have been without 

 result. 



The operations which precede the sending away the 

 oysters, washing, and purging, are carried on in an asph- 

 alte basin set apart for these purposes in the chief estab- 

 lishment. 



In the other pares the oysters are placed in classes, 

 according to age and size. 



All the spat dealt with at Grand Camp comes from 

 Brittany. As soon as it arrives, in the month of April, the 

 young oysters are stuck, to the number of 4000 or 5000, on 

 metallic hurdles, one metre long and 50 centimetres broad. 

 The use of these hurdles economises the time devoted to 

 cleaning the spat, in order to free it from the mud brought 

 in with it from the sea ; it is enough to take the apparatus 

 by the two handles with which it is furnished, and to shake 

 it gently in the water. After some months the growth is 

 plainly visible, and the hurdles have to be taken away. 



