[23] OYSTER-CULTUKE UPON SHOEES OF BRITISH CHANNEL. 695 



The pares of the maritime domain are not tbe only ones included in 

 the establishment directed by M. Turlure. In rear of the workrooms 

 and store-houses are two large basins lined with asphalt. These are 80 

 meters long and 21 wide, and are used for the reception of oysters and 

 to prepare them for shipment. They are subdivided into seven com- 

 partments, in which the oysters are placed according to their size and 

 their origin. These basins are connected with the river by a canal, and 

 the water in them can be renewed at pleasure. 



For some years tbis establishment has been of real importance. Ac- 

 cording to the statement of M. Turlure* there are in the pares and in 

 the river 10,000,000 of oysters. 



The establishment of the MM. Charles, which I have previously de- 

 scribed, is completed by other ponds excavated in the dune which sep- 

 arates the private properties from the public maritime domain. A 

 supply canal leads from the sea to the ponds and carries tbe water 

 necessary for the establishment, the distribution of which is regulated 

 by a sluice-gate at the extremity of the canal. The water may be 

 renewed nine or ten days out of everj^ fifteen. 



The basins are not all devoted to the same purpose. One is appro- 

 priated to oysters, which are being subjected to the disgorgement which 

 is usual previous to shipment. The others contain the frames and trays 

 with open wire bottoms in which are placed the fry, or more frequently 

 the oysters which are nearly ready for the table. These same areas of 

 water serve during the winter to shelter the spawn bred in the river, 

 and which it is necessary to protect from the cold. 



The reservoirs communicate with each other, but, although supplied 

 with the same water, they give very different results. 



In one of them, that most remote from the mouth of the canal, the 

 bottom of which is composed of mud and clay, the oysters readily in- 

 crease in dimensions from -IJ to 5 centimeters in a season. 



The neighboring pare, which is separated from the first only by a 

 narrow tongue of land, can scarcely nourish the individuals confided to 

 it. These anomalies are to be explained by the greater or less amount 

 of food afforded directly by the soil, and by the percolations of fresh 

 water, which are quite abundant in the pare in which the development 

 of the moUusk is so pronounced. 



During 1875 the MM. Charles sold 5,500,000 oysters, of which 2,500,000 

 wei-e ready for the table. 



The spawn raised here is brought from Auray, and I will add that it 

 produces, in the plantations of Lorient, individuals distinguished alike 

 for the delicacy of their flavor and the fineness and lightness of their 

 shells. I have seen many of them that were in no respect inferior to 

 oysters of Ostende. 



Auray and La Trinite. — Auray and La Trinite are, with Archacon, 

 the most important oyster centers of our coast. They are more partic- 

 ularly engaged in propagation. 



