702 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [30] 



The basins designed for the winter quarters of the oysters are fed 

 upon one side b^' a vast pond having an area of 40 hectares and receiv- 

 ing water at each tide, except during the neap-tides. Upon the other 

 side is a sluice-gate which i^ermits the entrance of the rising tide and 

 through which the water is drawn out when it is desired to empty the 

 basins. The bottom is composed of mud and sand and is for the most 

 part firm. 



The system of cultivation which has served as the basis of the labors 

 of iNI. Pozzi is the system of continuous currents. In carrying out this 

 plan M. Pozzi has simulated the conditions under which the natural 

 beds of oysters are placed and has had every reason to be satisfied with 

 the method. During the first year, 1875, the results were marvelous. 

 The i)resent year they have surpassed all expectations. By means of 

 the pond of forty hectares and the sluice-gate on the opposite side he 

 was able to maintain a constant circulation of water in the pares. 



A portion of one of the storage basins, that one in which the oysters 

 are spread over the bottom to thicken up (epaissir) during the winter, 

 is asphalted. Such an exclusive appropriation would hardly be profit- 

 able in an establishment less extensive than this. In this case it has 

 been rendered necessary by the presence upon the bottom of these trans- 

 formed salt marshes of decomposing vegetable matters. 



This pare has an area of 2 hectares. It is divided into five parallel 

 compartments, having each a length of 200 meters and a breadth of 15 

 meters. Each is in direct communication with the feeding pond, by an 

 indeiiendent water conduit. This subdivision was adopted by M. Pozzi 

 with the view of securing a rapid current through all the compartments^ 

 Without this precaution — had the water been introduced into the pond 

 through a single channel, the force of the current would have been lost 

 in the vast extent of the two hectares of surface, and neither the oysters 

 upon the sides nor upon the bottom would have profited b^' its bene- 

 ficent influence. As may be seen, the practice of M. Pozzi has been 

 consistent with the principles upon which he has founded his operations. 



In the arrangement of the submersible basins he has carried out the 

 same ideas. 



These basins are excavated in rock, and surrounded with Avails of 

 stone, laid in cement, which have a thickness of 60 or 80 centimeters, 

 and rise to a height of 80 centimeters above the surface of the ground. 

 They are situated at the extremity of a small peninsula, in close prox- 

 imity to the workshops. The two basins are nearly equal in size, and 

 have an aggregate area of 50 meters by 28 or 29 meters. They receive 

 water at every tide. Each compartment contains 200 frames, aligned in 

 the direction of the current, and separated by intervals of 50 centi- 

 meters. Each frame is numbered, in order that a record may be kept 

 of the fry obtained from different sources, and its progress noted. The 

 fraures are ballasted by heavy stones to keep them in position. 



The interior of each frame is divided into five or six compartments 



