XVI.-ON THE OYSTER-INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



By Lieut. P. de Broca. 



[The great interest taken by the French in the subject of oyster-cul- 

 ture, in view of the threatened failure of this branch of industry on the 

 shores of France, induced the government to send Lieutenant de Broca 

 to the United States, in 1862, for the purpose of ascertaining its condi- 

 tion in this country. The report of that gentleman was first published 

 in the Revue Maritime et Coloniale, and afterward reprinted in separate 

 form, with some additions, under the title given below.* 



As nothing so elaborate in reference to the oyster-culture and -indus- 

 try in the United States has been published elsewhere, I have caused 

 M. de Broca's report in the Revue to be translated, and present it here- 

 with, supplemented by some additions from the Etude. I hope to pre- 

 sent before long the present condition of the oyster-fisheries of the 

 country from an American point of view. — S. F. Bated.] 



EEPORT. 



To His Excellency the Minister of Marine and Colonial Affairs : 



Honored Sir : At the end of the month of March, 1862, your excel- 

 lency, at the request of M. Coste, Member of the Institute, instructed me 

 to proceed to the United States, in order to study the Oyster-Fisheries of 

 that country, and to bring back specimens of two kinds of edible mol- 

 lusks, susceptible of acclimation on the shores of France. 



Since my return to Havre, on the 2d of October, I have hastened to 

 forward to your excellency a summary report of my mission, to be fol- 

 lowed by a more detailed account, containin g all my investigations in 

 regard to the American coasts. 



Leaving Boston on the 17th of September, in the steamer Asia, of the 

 Cunard line, I reached Liverpool on the 29th, after a passage of twelve 

 days of most delightful weather. I brought with me a number of mol- 

 lusks, principally of the Mya arenaria, of which, notwithstanding the 

 greatest care, I was able to save only a few specimens. I was more for- 



* Questions niaritiiues et coloniales. — Peches maritimes. — Etude sur l'industrie bui- 

 triere des Etats-Unis, faite par ordre de S. E. M. le comte de Chasselonp Laubat, mi- 

 nistre de la marine et des colonies. Suivie de divers apercus sur l'industrie de la glace 

 en Arne'rique, les bateaux de pecbe pourvus de glacieres, les reserves flottantes a poisson, 

 la pecbe du inaquereau, etc. Par M. P. de Broca, lieutenant de vaisseau, directeur des 

 mouvements du port du Havre. — Nouvelle Edition, augmented de divers documents et 

 de notes.— Paris. Challamel alnd, dditeur, 1865, 12 mo., 2 p. 1., 266 pp. 



