812 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [60] 
distance away, and also a much superior flavor and delicacy of meat. 
This was a revelation to Walton. Thence to the establishment of the 
first of the five hundred crawls or mussel-frames, the revenues from 
which have brought ease and comfort to those countries, was but a 
step ; and it is the crawl of Walton, for it is constructed to-day just as 
he constructed it, that we shall take as a guide and model in the study 
forming the subject of this chapter. If, as in the cove of Aiguillon, the 
raising of mussels is undertaken upon emergent lands belonging to the 
domain of the sea, the arrangement of apparatus adopted by Walton is 
the best for the purpose, since it gives sufficient stability to enable it to 
withstand the shocks of the waves and boats, and the force of the wind. 
The apparatus is in the form of a V, with the point turned towards the 
sea. Each wing is built of a row of stakes interlaced with a wicker- 
work of flexible branches or strong pieces of osier or chestnut. The 
stakes are trunks of trees in their original condition, 4 to 5 meters long 
and .30 of a meter in diameter, driven into the mud half of their length, 
and placed at a distance apart of from .50 to .60 of a meter. Together 
they form a palisade from 2 to 2.50 meters in height above the mud. 
The branches forming the wicker-work, and for which as long branches 
as possible are chosen, are woven upon the stakes like the osiers of a 
basket or gate. This wicker-work covers the stakes without leaving 
any vacant spaces from the top to within about 15 to 20 centimeters of 
the bottom, in such a manner as to allow, during ebb and flood tide, a 
free circulation of the water at all times, so as to avoid the deposit of 
mud at the base of the stakes. 
The points of contact between the branches of the wicker-work and 
the stakes constitute the only support or fastening between these two 
parts, and to make this fastening as firm as possible, so that there will 
be no sliding of the wicker-work down the stakes, care should be used 
in spacing the stakes, and the branches of the wicker-work should be 
woven as tightly as they can be drawn. But they should not, neverthe- 
less, be brought too close together, for they would thus present too 
many obstacles to the movement of the mud and thus cause deposits, 
which, by their rapid increase, would very soon seriously interfere with 
navigation and endanger the apparatus itself. The mean distance of 
from .50 to .60 of a meter is the best. The length of the palisades or - 
wings of the V can be varied at will. 
The length of the crawls of Aiguillon is, upon an average, from 200 to 
250 meters; but this length, which is justified by the condition of the 
surface upon which they are built, ought to be regulated so that the sides 
of the V shall occupy about one-fourth of the distance between the 
extreme limits reached by the water at high and low tides. Upon all 
emergent lands those portions nearer the sea are much less often un- 
covered than those toward the shore, so that while the former are cov- 
ered every day with a layer of water several meters in depth and are 
dry for only a short period, the latter are covered by a layer only a few 
