ese OYSTER CULTURE IN MORBIHAN. 961 
then until the month of September causes but a slight deposit of mud. 
Whatever may be the extent of the deposit produced, at the moment 
when the stake is withdrawn, in order to secure the oysters attached to 
the tiles, the current resumes its normal action, sweeps away the accu 
mulated mud, and restores the bed to its original condition. 
We repeat, that, after having carefully examined the action of the cur- 
rent upon these bouquet collectors, we must assert that the greatest 
progress made in oyster culture, in Morbihan, consists in the discovery 
and reducing to pratice of this system. The honor of this progress be- 
longs to M. Eugene Leroux, one of the most indefatigable and perse- 
vering culturists of Morbihan. It is very interesting to note by what 
a succession of attempts Mr. Leroux arrived at the important result we 
mention. 
“On May 31,” said he, ‘‘I began to arrange the tiles in my parks. “I 
constructed a wooden framework, and upon wires attached to the top of 
it I placed two tiles, followed by two others placed crosswise upon the 
first, this operation being continued until a dozen tiles were thus dis- 
posed of. When this arrangement had been completed, I saw that my 
tiles would not remain in place, since the currents tended to continually 
displace them. I, therefore, thought to retain them, by passing a wire 
around my little scaffolding, which made everything very secure. 
‘“‘T did not finish the placing of my five thousand tiles in the parks 
until towards the end of June. It was a lengthy undertaking, as we 
could work only at low tide, and I will add that it was both laborious 
and expensive. q 
“Thad read in the works of M. Coste that after every high tide it 
was necessary to remove from the tiles the sediment which formed there, 
from one tide to another, so I scrupulously set to work to wash mine, 
one by one ; we were obliged to stand in the water up to our knees, and 
when the tide left us to continue our work with buckets of water, and 
then to carefully replace all the tiles. 
“This troublesome operation continued until September; I considered 
it the work of a Roman, and saw the impossibility of undertaking it on 
a large scale. 
‘As soon as I discovered that my tiles had embryo oysters upon them, 
I discontinued the washing; I contented myself with rearranging the 
the collectors that became displaced, and thus passed the winter. 
“T determined todevelop my undertaking ona larger scale. I order- 
ed from Nantes 30,000 tiles, which were received in the month of May, 
1867, and then I set myself to work distributing them in the parks. This 
necessitated a new arrangement. Planks were first placed flat upon the 
mud, and on these I arranged the tiles, four in width and ten in length, 
making forty tiles placed side by side in one layer. Upon this layer 
five other layers were arranged, making six in all, the last layer being 
covered with boards, holding stones heavy enough to act as weights, 
S, Mis. 29-—61 
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