874 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [50] 
Those which develop in the reserved cantonments will be distributed 
in lots to the most zealous seamen, to whom this loan or renerous gift 
will be a means of cultivating, on their own account, beds, ceded by the 
government, and thus creating for themselves a first capital, by which 
they will pass from a mercenary or laboring condition to that of culti- 
vators. This will be part of the recompense. 
But in order that nothing shall be left undone that is calculated to 
expand the business, it will be well to admit, to a certain extent, private 
enterprise to the benefits of the concessions, obliging it to be associated 
with the fishermen, whose rights will be protected by contracts made 
before the proper authority. So that, without making over anything, 
the government can aid the development of the industry and attract 
those who, witnessing its prosperity, feel disposed to engage in the pur- 
suit. 
If your excellency consent to this plan of organization, the commis- 
sary of maritime inscription at Teste will have ship-loads of shells taken 
from the Matoc bank, situated at the entrance of the bay, and carried 
either by the fishery-police boat or other vessels and deposited in the 
places designated to receive the spat. But before spreading them over 
the bay, they should be exposed to the sun a sufficient time to destroy 
any deleterious animals that may live in or cling to them, so that they 
will not be deposited in the oyster beds to increase and multiply. 
In carrying out the details of this general arrangement, about 1,000,000 
breeding oysters, procured either in the channels where fishing is pro- 
hibited or in the markets, should be carried during the following months 
of March or April to the places I have designated for the creation of 
the two model establishments. These oysters should be submerged, 
as in the ordinary étalages, in parallel rows, between each of which a 
path must be left for the laboring men, who, during the highest tides, 
will be occupied in the restocking operations. But in order to avoid 
the injury incurred by leaving the oysters exposed too long to extremes 
of heat or cold, such places as are less frequently left dry should be 
selected for depositing them. 
Above each of these level rows boxes 3 meters long, 2 meters wide, 
and 60 centimeters in depth, built of fir planks, are to be placed in line, 
end to end, and held at a certain distance above the bottom by means 
of stakes, to which they must be securely attached. These boxes, divided 
into two compartments by wooden partitions, something after the manner 
of a traveling valise, will receive in the upper story as many fagots as can 
be placed under the cover, which is provided with artificial stalactites ; 
the covers should be arranged on hinges, so that the operations of nature 
may be watched without interfering with them, and any causes that 
might prove an obstacle to them be easily removed. By the side of 
these appliances, placed like bells, receiving in their open lower part’ 
the spat which escapes from the étalages, a tew completely closed should 
be built, the sides of which should be pierced with holes to allow the free 
