[15] OYSTER CULTURE IN MORBIHAN. 957 
CHAPTER TT: 
COLLECTORS—LIMING—FORMATION OF BREEDING PARKS. 
Collectors.—After the selection of a site comes the choice of col- 
lectors—that is to say, of the apparatus for the attachment of the em- 
bryo oysters. 
The word park conveys to the minds of many persons the idea clita an 
inclosure; but breeding parks are never inclosed. It is, therefore, im- 
portant a define the terms in use in oyster culture, in order to prenen 
confusion. 
A park is any bank or shore, where spat collectors are used in connec- 
tion with the spawning oysters; a claire is an inclosure surrounded by 
low walls and covered by the water at high tide, and serves as a depot 
for collectors, and for raising; and, finally, a basin is an inclosed area, 
protected from the influence of the tides, in which, by means of hy- 
draulic apparatus, water-gates, or sluices, the height of the water may 
be regulated at will. Coste’s attention was first directed to the subject 
of collectors, which, from the beginning, have been made the object of 
much study. 
Most authors who have written upon oyster culture have contented 
themselves with reproducing Coste’s note, which occurs in the supple- 
ment to his Voyage of Exploration. We will call attention, simply as a 
matter of interest, to what have, until to-day, been considered as the best 
collectors. Wood and tiles are the most important materials for the 
construction of collectors. Wood is used either as fascines, submerged 
and held in place by means of weights, or else as platforms; tiles are 
utilized in the greatest variety of ways. Coste recommended— 
1. The simple roof collector. 
2. The double-roof collector. 
3d. The roof collector with oblique rows. 
4. The roof collector with opposed rows. 
As a more complicated apparatus, he advised the “ hive” collector, a 
large wooden box, open at the bottom and containing movable frames. 
On the latter, the spawning oysters and cockle-shells are disposed in 
layers—the one supplies the spawn and the other the means for its attach- 
ment. Finally, he suggested the use of stone, although, at the same time, 
he acknowledged the difficulty of removing the young oysters from it. 
Study and experience in breeding have failed to discover any other 
substance suitable for collectors, but the method of using collectors has 
been greatly perfected. 
Stone, which sinks so easily in the mud, cannot produce good results. 
M. Liazard, one of the culturists of Morbihan, who, since 1861, has not 
