24 



abandoned them, one of the chief causes leading to a 

 reduction of the number of parks in operation in 1909. 



We see then that at Arcachon where the condition 

 and conduct of oyster farming" are typical of the course 

 of the industry in other districts, small holdings are the 

 rule ; the aim of the French administration is and always 

 has been to facilitate the acquisition and operation of 

 oyster parks by men of small means and preferably those 

 whose services are earmarked for service in the fleet for 

 defence of the country or who have already performed 

 such service. In no other country does such considera- 

 tion and foresight exist ; in almost all others the 

 State's right to the littoral is at the disposition of the 

 highest bidder and no safeguards there exist to prevent 

 capitalists from adding park to park till they control the 

 whole industry of the district and paralyse the initiative of 

 men of limited means. In England, Holland, Portugal, 

 and Germany the oyster industry has the same story to 

 tell ; how wealthy companies and corporations control 

 the beds and culture Qrounds and how the man who in 

 France would be an independent and free unit knowing 

 no master but the needs of his family, is replaced by the 

 hired labourer, who, usually with no interest beyond his 

 daily wage in the prosperity of the work he is engaged 

 upon, obeys orders and has the feelings and faults of the 

 man living in dependence upon the favour of a master. 



(2) Outline of the routine of oyster-culture ; 

 definition of terms. 



In spring the preparation of the tiles which will be 

 used in June and July for the collection of spat — the 

 free swimmino- larvae of the ovster — is taken in hand in 

 the intervals of household duties or of more pressing 

 work. First the tiles are cleaned and then are limed, a 

 process known as chantage, work generally done by 

 women or by girls. On their part the men see to the 

 repair of the collector cases which are destined to 

 receive the limed tiles. Every year the cases receive a 

 fresh coat of coal tar but this is usually a -special trade, 



