810 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [58] 
the minimum at 50 it will give us upon a hectare of surface 500,000 
-oysters, which, in about five years (average time of growth), would be 
worth, at 3 franes per hundred, the sum of at least 15,000 frances, making 
a yearly revenue of 3,000 franes.* Admitting whatis evidently above the 
truth, that the expense of labor, repairs, supervision, &c., absorbs three- 
fifths of this revenue, then the net profits would be 1,200 frances per hee- 
tare, or for the five years 6,000 francs. But these calculations are based, 
as will be recognized, upon mean numbers, which are probably lower 
than facts would demand. It will readily be seen, then, that in five 
years a landed property of the value of at least 6,000 francs a hectare 
per year can be established upon lands which before were unproductive 
and of no value. I think it can be said without danger of exaggeration 
that there are few, if any, rural occupations which in so short a time wili 
give equal results. 
As to the decrease in price of oysters consequent upon the increased 
production of this mollusk there is nothing to fear at present. Thanks 
to steam, the oyster can cross our entire continent without becoming dry 
on the way. Our coasts are called upon to answer the demands not 
only of all France, but of other countries. The demands for a long period 
have been greater than the supply, and we are too far as yet from the 
time when the supply shall equal the demand to include this among the 
risks. 
CHAPTER NV: 
CULTIVATION OF MUSSELS. 
In the preceding chapters, in treating of the rearing of oysters we have 
said, that the only bottoms upon which such an enterprise could not be 
prosecuted with chances of success were those where the mud was so 
deep and well established that there could be no hope of getting rid of 
it. These places, very numerous upon our coasts, in the coves and 
sinall bays formed at the mouths of snany rivers, where the mud is de- 
posited both from the waters of the sea and from those coming from the 
land, can nevertheless be made of service. Unfit for the home of oysters, 
they are very well adapted to mussels, which, aided by certain simple 
and inexpensive processes, can acquire there a size and flavor very 
much superior to those of the sea-mussel. Tor this industry, as for that 
of oysters, we have the experience of the fishermen of the Aiguillon, 
where this industry has existed since the thirteenth century, when an 
Irishman, named Walton, was shipwrecked upon the rocky point of 
*In 1863, on the island of Ré, a sailor named Moreau sold the first gathering from his 
park, which contained only 500 square meters, for 1,300 francs, making the revenue 
26,000 franes per hectare. 
tOn the island of Ré the first sales were made at 15 to 20 francs per thousand; to- 
day the price is 30 to 35 francs for the same quantity. 
