THE OYSTER. II3 



method is a wasteful one. It is not unusual for fifty 

 or a hundred young oysters to fasten upon one shell, 

 and as the shells are too strong to be broken without 

 injuring the young oysters, these cannot be detached, 

 and most of them are soon crowded out and killed by 

 the growth of the others. 



The use of tiles has, therefore, been introduced in 

 France to avoid this loss. 



As tiles can be employed without difficulty in deep 

 water, they are well adapted for use in our bay. Those 

 which are used in France are much like a common 

 drain pipe sawed in two longitudinally. They cannot 

 be obtained in our markets at present, although they 

 could be made very cheaply if there were any demand 

 for them. Each tile is about 18 inches or 2 feet long, 

 6 or 8 inches wide, concave on one side and convex 

 on the other. The shape of the tile is important, as 

 nearly all the oysters fasten themselves upon the con- 

 cave surface. They adhere so firmly that it is difficult 

 to detach them without injury, and to avoid this the 

 French oyster-breeders coat the tiles with a thin white- 

 wash, which can be scaled off with the young oysters 

 when these are large enough to be distributed upon 

 the planting grounds. 



The following is an account of the method of coat- 

 ing the tiles as employed in France: 



The liming is done in two very different ways at 

 Morbihan, according to whether it is intended to en- 

 tirely free the oysters from the tile, or to allow a por- 

 tion of the tile to remain attached to each shell. 



When we come to speak of the removal of the oys- 

 ters from the collectors, we will make some remarks 



