816 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [64] 
February to the end of April, two months and a half at the most, and 
this portion of the year in France is generally cool and rainy, so that 
the claires, frequently refreshed by rains, need then less than at any other 
season a renewal of water. Moreover, if one is under the impression 
that the too frequent use of the canal causes deposits of mud in the claires, 
it need be employed only when it is absolutely necessary. The use of 
wood, such as osier or chestnut, for the wicker-work generally gives 
excellent results, and its renewal is not relatively very expensive. It 
may be, however, that from its scarcity, or from having to be brought 
too far, or from the presence of boring animals in the water, its use is 
not advisable; in such cases the wood can be replaced by frames of gal- 
vanized iron, covered with a trellis of iron or zine wire, woven coarse or 
fine according to the age and size of the mussels which are to be placed 
upon it. In order to fasten the frames it is well to attach them to two 
posts firmly driven into the ground at a distance apart equal to the 
length of the frames; or better, the frames can be entirely immersed in 
the water and suspended vertically by means of floats, or held by 
chains or ropes stretched from one side of the basin to the other and 
worked by capstans, so that they can be raised or lowered at will accord- 
ing to the level of the water and in order to facilitate the labor of caring 
for them. This method presents this great advantage that all the man- 
ipulation, the building of the trestles or frames, the changing and gather- 
ing of the mussels, &c., can be effected without letting the water out of 
the basin. When desired the frames can be partially raised from the 
water by means of the cables, and then taken on board of a boat carrying 
the workmen, and after they have been either loaded with or deprived 
of their mussels they can be placed in the water without any derange- 
ment of the neighboring apparatus. Moreover, the mobility and inde- 
pendence of each frame will considerably facilitate all changes, clean- 
ing, or repairs which it is necessary to make. 
It is, perhaps, unnecessary to remark that this system is equally ap- 
plicable to frames made of wood and filled in with wicker-work. When 
such frames are used it will only be necessary to anchor them with stones 
fastened to one side, so as to maintain them vertically under water. The 
fundamental principles of this kind of culture once fairly understood— 
and the preceding descriptions have, we hope, been sufficient for that— 
nothing can be easier than to modify the apparatus as to form and ma- 
terial to accommodate it to the thousand various conditions of each 
particular locality. But here we must leave the breeder and allow his 
ingenuity full sway, guided by the experience which he will acquire after 
a few years of labor, and which will be of much more help to him than 
the superabundance of details with which we might fill the rest of this 
chapter. We will only add a few words upon the different methods of 
procuring the young animals necessary at the start, and of renewing 
each year the young stock needed to enable the basins to meet the de- 
mands of consumers by the sale of the adults. 
