560 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



else ; the manipulations are neither more nor less frequent ; 

 silting up with mud is prevented ; the pares are kept up 

 with care ; the hair-weeds which form in them are removed ; 

 too many oysters are not allowed to be together in one 

 basin, and from time to time the pares are left to rest. 



In spite of the small extent of the concessions, about 

 10,000,000 of oysters, of which hardly one-eighth is the 

 result of dredging, are raised yearly at Les Sables d'Olonne. 

 It is to be presumed that production will not stop at this 

 stage. The transformation into claires of the salt-marshes 

 near the oyster-pares will take place before long. 



ILE DE RE. 



At the lie de Re" rearing and reproduction are carried 

 on, but the ostricultural industry is not very important 

 there. The grounds suitable for the culture of the oyster 

 are of limited extent, and, further, it is not possible to uti- 

 lise the beach west of the island, owing to the violence of 

 the sea, which is called on that side the mer sauvage. Of 

 the pares now existing, I shall mention those of M. 

 Dupeux-Boyer. They have been made now 15 years, and 

 are in the outworks of an old mill ; they are situated at Le 

 Martray, on the mer sauvage side, but shielded from its 

 attacks, on one side by a dune, on the other by the Bay of 

 Bien-d'Ars, which waters them by means of a canal. They 

 are divided into claires, of which the average dimension is 

 from 50 to 60 metres in length by 20 to 30 in breadth, 

 which are separated from each other by embankments of 

 earth 25 to 30 centimetres high. These claires receive 

 water every tide. 



M. Dupeux-Boyer, an experienced person, has remarked, 

 like the parc-owners of Les Sables d'Olonne, that the less 

 water there is in the pares the more the young oysters 



