Oyster Culture in Europe and Japan 75 



At the end of the spawning season, these collectors were 

 well covered with young oysters. * He now began in 

 earnest the task of reclaiming the coast, and large areas 

 at Toulon, Brest, and Arcachon, were covered with 

 oysters, many of them imported from England for the 

 purpose. Now, too, stimulated by the success of Coste, 

 private interests began rapidly to develop the new in- 

 dustry, especially on the coasts of Normandy and Brit- 

 tany. Beds were constructed in many localities, and the 

 work proceeded with great enthusiasm. 



In many places the initial successes were gratifying. 

 It became certain that oysters transplanted from natural 

 beds to other bottoms would grow well, in the majority 

 of cases, though often they did not spawn. So much 

 had been gained, however, that for three or four years a 

 spirit of great expectation prevailed. 



Then, in the following years, came reverses, dis- 

 appointments, failures, and disasters. Fishermen de- 

 spoiled the natural beds. Storms scattered the oysters 

 that had been planted in the shallow waters. The beds 

 of Saint Brieuc, especially, suffered from wave action, 

 the brush collectors being torn from the bottoms, broken, 

 and swept away. The natural beds had become so 

 greatly reduced in supplying breeding oysters that 

 regions formerly producing every year a good set of 

 young became barren. Apparently the brilliant plan of 

 Coste had failed. Discredited, disappointed, and finally 

 completely discouraged, he died, perhaps not dreaming 

 that in time — not quickly, as he had hoped, but in the 

 course of normal growth — the conditions which he had 

 predicted were, in large part, to be realized. 



One fact of importance, underlying these events, has 

 received little or no attention. It is not simply that the 



