[7] OYSTER AND MUSSEL INDUSTRIES. 831 
where experience has shown that oysters grow rapidly, and acquire an 
agreeable flavor, or they might be carried to some small lagoon, where 
they would always be easy of access, as in a laboratory. 
Already M. Carbonel, struck with the depression of the industry, has 
endeavored to call the attention of the government to the necessity of 
creating new beds upon our sea-coast. This useful project certainly de- 
serves to be taken into consideration, but the question of the permanency 
of this restocking can only be definitely determined by the adoption of a 
mode of operation analogous to that which has been practiced from time 
immemorial in the Gulf of Naples, and by making the salt ponds, such 
as the basin of Arcachon and the lagoons of the Mediterranean, con- 
tribute to the production. 
But this useful undertaking can only be accomplished by a careful 
initiative on the part of the government. Upon the government alone 
devolves the duty of awakening attention to the preservation and de- 
velopment of this source of food ; for the domain of the seas is common 
property. 
It is well that the administration of the French marine seems to under- 
stand the question, since it takes such great care to prohibit the work- 
ing of the natural beds during the spawning season, and to compel the 
fishermen to throw into the sea the young oysters which have not reached 
the lawful size—a measure full of wisdom, which has already produced 
the happiest results; but it should not limit itself to this intervention. 
It is necessary that the hydraulic engineers should prepare a topographic 
chart of the bottoms to be protected from invasion, and that the vessels. 
laden with the edible mollusk, which it is so desirable to multiply, should 
distribute the seed on these appropriate grounds. 
However, before beginning this work we would have to exterminate 
the mussels, the presence of which is, perhaps, a difficult obstacle to 
surmount. 
Thus the oysters from the ocean will, when we bave chosen beds suit- 
able for them, be transported by degrees from the fresh waters into the 
waters of the Mediterranean, and from the Mediterranean into salt ponds. 
which line the shores. The administration of the marine has in its hands. 
all the instruments necessary to undertake this great work, and to ac- 
complish it without hinderance, to the advantage of a grateful popuiation. 
I do not, therefore, hesitate to advise it to enter heartily into this scheme, 
and I know thatin giving this advice I point out an object which is in the: 
minds of intelligent men charged with this part of the service.* It is 
only to be regretted that the maritime guards appointed by the admin- 
istration are not numerous enough, nor sufficiently paid, so that one may 
count upon their efficient watchfulness. 
*Since the publication of the first edition of this work, artificial oyster beds have 
been created, according to my proposition, in the bay of Saint Brieuc, through the 
efforts of the administration of the marine. (See, in the appendix, two reports on this. 
subject addressed to the Emperor. ) 
