OYSTER CULTURE IN FRANCE. 571 



ruption, during the season in which the dredging is allowed, 

 without exhausting it, or compromising its fertility. 



In fact, this bed is a real fortune to the fishermen of 

 the district, who reap from it an abundant and certain 

 harvest every year. 



ARCACHON. 



The most important oyster station on the coast of 

 France, Arcachon, is without a rival in the world for the 

 number of ovster beds which are worked there, the value 



j 



*of the establishments founded in which ostriculture is 

 carried on, and the stimulus to business to which this 

 industry gives rise. The immense stretch of salt water 

 which bears the name of the Basin of Arcachon, scooped 

 out in the middle of a sandy plain, is in permanent com- 

 munication with the Atlantic by a narrow opening. This 

 little inland sea, into which several streams pour fresh 

 water, a valuable auxiliary to the culture of the oyster, is 

 subject to the same fluctuations as the ocean. It is 

 traversed in every direction by currents, which keep up an 

 incessant movement. These currents circulate in channels 

 of variable length, and with a depth of sometimes 40 or 50 

 metres. Between the channels are found the grounds 

 known under the name of "crassats" which emerge at each 

 tide. On these grounds, covered with pares and claires, 

 are established the largest ostricultural works in existence. 



The oyster industry has not been altogether created at 

 Arcachon ; it has been called into existence by the presence 

 of natural banks, to the number of 19, scattered here and 

 there in the basin. These beds, after having passed (like 

 the oyster-beds of the Channel, and for the same reason) 

 through a period of decay, which gave rise for a time to a 

 fear that they would entirely disappear, have revived, and 



