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The most extensive of Italian oyster-farming grounds 

 are situated in the Mare Piccolo, a shallow landlocked 

 bay at the head of the Gulf of Tarentum. Here oyster 

 farming is carried on not on the sea bottom but at different 

 levels in the water itself, a system thoroughly scientific in 

 theory and equally sound in commercial practice in this 

 particularly conditioned locality. The plan adopted is to 

 drive a number of posts into the firm calcareous sand 

 forming the bottom of the basin so that a portion may 

 project beyond the surface of the water. These posts or 

 piles are usually placed at the four corners of a culture 

 plot ; between them extends a network of cords from 

 which are hung bundles or fascines of brushwood. Oyster 

 spat settles usually upon these in great abundance, the 

 play of the water upon the fascines as they sway about at 

 the end of their suspensory cord preventing any accumu- 

 lation of mud. Bathed in the nutrient tide these oysters 

 grow much more rapidly than if laid upon the bottom, a 

 fact the farmers recognize precisely, for all oysters which 

 become detached and fall to the bottom owing to the decay 

 of the bark to which they were attached, are gathered up 

 and placed in baskets to be again suspended from the 

 overhead cordage. 



The highest development of oyster culture is however 

 seen in the fattening and greening - claires of Marennes 

 and other places on the Seudre in France. These claires 

 are not the rough and ready shallow ponds covered twice 

 daily by the tide which Arcachon parkers find sufficient 

 for their needs ; they are elaborate reservoirs excavated 

 on land and connected with the sea by sluices. They are 

 above the level of neap tides and the water within can be 

 renewed only during spring tide. Even then the whole 

 water is not emptied out and renewed ; only enough 

 water is changed to keep the contents in health. The food 

 of the oysters being fattened and greened is supplied by 

 the enormous production of diatoms induced by the 

 shallowness and peculiarly favourable composition of the 

 soil forming the bottom and walls of the claires themselves. 

 The details of this branch of oyster culture are of the 



