740 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [58] 
mense swarms of young oysters which are produced upon these beds, in 
guarding them from their enemies, and then in transplanting them to the 
numerous fattening-ponds along the coast, where, at last, by careful rear- 
ing, they are brought to marketable size. The number of persons em- 
ployed daily in oyster-culture near Saint-Vaast-de-la-Hogue is 300, and 
near Cancale 4,000. In the district of Auray, for the year 1876, the 
total number of days’ employment for all the men, women, and chil- 
dren who were engaged in this industry was 89,678. In Arcachon an 
oyster-breeding company laid out 110,000 tiles as objects of attachment 
for the young oysters. In 1876, 300,000 tiles were used for the same 
purpose near Vannes, and as many at Oleron. At Auray, in 1874, 
as many as 2,580,000 tiles were employed as objects of attachment for 
the young broods. At Lorient 60,000 troughs of cement, each trough 50 
centimeters long by 30 to 40 broad, are used in rearing and fattening 
young oysters. In these the water remains constantly, during the 
lowest tides, 10 to 12 centimeters deep. Near Saint-Vaast-de-la-Hogue 
there are 185 oyster-beds, which cover an area of 88 hectares (about 213.84 
acres); near Cancale the amount of surface which has been artificially 
changed into oyster-beds is 172 hectares (about 411.96 acres). 
At Auray the amount of oyster-ground is over 300 hectares. Here 
there are 277 storage-beds and 20 fattening-ponds. In 1876, in the 
neighborhood of Marennes and Tremblade, on the Seudre, there were 
13,526 artificially prepared beds, covering an area of 4,000 hectares 
(9,720 acres), and at the same time the Oe of Arcachon contained 3,317 
such places. The production of oysters from these beds is so great that 
machines have been invented to sort them. With the help of a machine, 
two women can sort in a day 30,000 to 40,000 oysters. Railroads con- 
nect the feeding-ponds with the cleansing-basins, packing-houses, and 
landing-places of the boats which bring the young oysters from the 
banks and brood-beds for fattening. From these accounts it will be seen 
how large a surface of sea-bottom, how much money, and how much 
human labor are requisite in order that the embryos which under nat- 
ural conditions originate in the sea shall be transformed into the im- 
mense number of full-grown oysters which the French oyster-breeders 
now place upon the market. The original plan of Coste to line the 
entire coast of France with a network of oyster-beds has indeed not been 
carried out; but in consequence of his exertions and experiments many 
oyster-parks have been established in favorable places along the coast 
from Normandy to south of the mouth of the river Gironde. The French, 
favored with innumerable bays and with a mild sea temperature along 
their coast, have, by diligence, perseverance, and the invention of new 
methods, brought oyster-culture to such a high degree of perfection, 
and given it such wide range, that now, in that favored land, it is to be 
reckoned as one of those cultured industries in which man tonverts to 
his service vast numbers of plants and animals. The large number of 
oysters produced as a result of the French system of oyster-culture has 
