888 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [4] 
gator of the methods of fish-cu]ture, during his voyage of exploration 
on the coasts of France and Italy found it practiced in Lake Fusaro, a 
short distance from Lake Lucrine. The oysters employed there are taken 
from the gulf of Tarente and distributed over various portions of the 
lake, which have been previously arranged for this purpose. This in- 
dustry is associated there with methods of oyster culture, properly so 
called, to which we shall refer hereafter.* 
Practices in France—Marennes.—In France the improvement of oys- 
ters by parking has been known and practiced for a long time. The 
productions of Marennes have long been famous. The parkers of that 
district purchase not only the shell-fish taken in the immediate neigh- 
borhood, but they also bring them from the coasts of Brittany and the 
basin of Arcachon. These oysters are put into ponds, where they grow 
rapidly, and into claires, consisting of shallow basins, where they acquire, 
after a more or less prolonged stay, a particular flavor and that green 
color so much prized by epicures. 
Cancale, Granville, Saint- Vaast-la-Hougue, Gc.—The oysters of Cancale 
and Granville are also parked, either locally at Saint-Vaast or at Cour- 
seulles, where they greatly improve and acquire the faculty of preserv- 
ing in their valves, for a long time after they are taken from the park, 
the savory water, constituting one of their principal merits. 
Practices in America—Importance of the production in that country.— 
The same method of raising is practiced in America on a grand scale. 
The coasts of the United States have, almost everywhere, oyster-beds of 
extraordinary richness. The consumption of oysters among the Ameri- 
cans attains proportions quite unknown on this side of the Atlantic. In 
1859 a newspaper of that country estimated the trade in this mollusk in 
the principal cities of the Union at 20,000,000 bushels; each bushel con- 
tains onan average 400 oysters, making the enormous total of 8,000,000,000 
oysters consumed in a single year, without counting those eaten on 
the spot, or those omitted by the errors of enumeration.t Most of these 
oysters after being taken are parked the same asin France. The parks 
are usually near the large centers of population, which in America are 
almost all situated in the vicinity of the sea. The most favorable places 
are the estuaries of rivers; for it has been ascertained in all countries 
that a mixture of fresh and salt water greatly develops the edible quali- 
ties of the oyster. In fine, the rearing of oysters is an industry of great 
antiquity, and is practiced almost everywhere where this mollusk consti- 
tutes a common article of food. 
OYSTER CULTURE PROPER. 
The same is not true of oyster culture. We have said before that this 
industry consists in collecting by artificial processes the spat of the 
* Voyage Vexploration sur le littoral de la France et de VItalie, par M. Coste, pub- 
lished in 1855. 
tDe Broca: Industrie huitriére des Etats-Unis, 1865. 
