704 EEPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [32] 



Prior to this there existed only depots or holes in which the merchants 

 deposited the oysters they had purchased at Noir-Moutiers until a 

 favorable opportunity occurred to sell them. It is due to the example 

 set by the administration of the marine that the parqueurs have at 

 length determined to put under cultivation the productive submersible 

 areas of the haven of Les Chasses and convert them into pares. 



The haven of Les Ohasses has an area of 64 hectares. Of this only 25 

 hectares are suitable for the cultivation of the oyster. It is overflowed 

 by the tides only once a week, but for two or three consecutive days. 

 The bottom consists of sand mixed with mud and clay. 



The water which enters the inclosures (claires) is thickly loaded with 

 the earthy matters taken up in the harbor. This necessitates the fre- 

 quent cleaning of the pares, in which it is absolutely necessary to pre- 

 vent any accumulation of ooze or sediment. 



These pares, or "elaires," as they are termed at Les Sables, have 

 an average superficies of 250 square meters. The area varies according 

 as the inclosures are more or less sheltered from the winds. The water 

 is retained in the pares by earthen embankments. These are of such 

 height that when the tides run, out only such a depth of water is re- 

 tained as is necessary to protect the young oysters from too great heat. 

 It is not necessary at Les Sables d'Olonne to observe any precautions 

 against cold. 



I am assured by the parqueurs that the shallower the claires are, and 

 consequently the more the oysters are subjected to the influence of heat 

 and light, the better they do. 



The rearing and fattening are the familiar phases of oyster-culture 

 to the planters of Les Sables. Their methods are based on theories 

 directly opposed to those of M. Pozzi at Ludr6. At Les Sables, in fact, 

 there are no currents, and the waters are very slowly renewed only 

 once in eight days. Last year, by reason of some constructions under- 

 taken in the harbor, the water remained unchanged in the claires for 

 an entire month, with no injurious results to the oysters. Truly, one 

 is astounded at the rapid and really surprising growth of the mollusk 

 under such conditions. In a single spring tide the increasing diameter 

 amounts sometimes to a centimeter. Sometimes in the course of forty- 

 eight houi'S a young oyster, injured in the process of detaching from the 

 collectors, will reconstruct its shell so strongly as to afford secure pro- 

 tection from its enemies. The young oysters (naissain) are brought 

 from Auray. They are transported in boxes enveloi>ed in damp sea- 

 weed. Some planters have them transferred without being detached 

 from the tiles, place them aside, and do not effect the removal from the 

 collectors until a later period. At first they are placed in nursing 

 frames, where they remain from fifteen to thirty days in order that the 

 injured ones may have time to heal ; then they are scattered over the 

 bottom of the claires. In two years at most the young oysters are fit 

 for the table. 



