[19] CONDITION OF OYSTER CULTURE IN 1875. 903 
(1874), the dredgers obtained oysters valued at 900,000 francs ($180,000), 
/ which result will be exceeded in 1875. There is, moreover, a fact full of 
significance, which observation has most clearly demonstrated. It is 
as follows: If the bottoms which supply the parks produced oysters 
naturally, the latter return to the natural beds a portion of what they 
have received from them. Aninterchange of germs between them there- 
fore ensues, which is a further guarantee of their common prosperity. 
The basin of Arcachon is an illustration of this. Since the increased 
development of oyster culture in that locality, the natural beds have 
become enriched to such an extent that, although they were only open 
to the public during a few hours at the close of the month of Novem- 
ber, 1874, still they yielded a harvest of 40,360,000 oysters to the 8,500 
persons engaged in taking them. An examination of these beds, made 
after the dredging had ceased, indicated that that enormous and unpre- 
cedented catch had not exhausted them. Very many of the oysters 
taken were purchased by the oyster culturists of the neighborhood, who 
placed them in their parks, so that they will still further contribute to 
the general fertility of the basin. 
Dissemination of information and encouragement.—The second aim of 
the authorities is to disseminate information concerning oyster culture, 
and the methods of conducting itin districts where this industry is still 
hampered by the ignorance or prejudices of the people. Early in 1874 
the minister of marine instructed the maritime authorities to examine 
such points within their districts as promised favorably for the procuring 
of spat by means of collecting apparatus. At Cancale, where the fisher- 
men have little sympathy with the oyster culturists of Vivier, at Granville, 
Tréguier, Paimpol, and in the vicinity of Sables d’Olonne, in the bay of 
Bourgneuf, on the coasts of the island of Ré, and in other places, small 
breeding-parks were created in accordance with the orders of the min- 
istry. These attempts are of such recent date that it is as yet impossible 
to form a correct idea of the probable results. The department of marine 
aids them with the appropriations at its disposal. These appropriations, 
when wisely managed, suffice for the essential services which they have 
to render, and itis by their aid that it is possible to continue, or resume, 
when necessary, the experiments started by the department twenty years 
ago; to maintain the oyster reservations upon which depend the future 
prosperity of certain localities; to form new reserves; to pay the expenses 
of the special supervision in the most important oyster districts; and, 
finally, to encourage labor favorable to the progress of oyster culture. It 
is for private interests to do the rest. The path is now marked out and 
a beginning has been made. We hope that the zeal of our oyster cultur- 
ists will not diminish, and that this industry will become, through a con- 
tinuous and rapid development, an abundant source of wealth to our 
country, where it originated. 
