Field. — The Sea Mussel Industry 135 



Other methods are also employed in France for the 

 cultivation of mussels. In some places they are raised 

 in claires or artificial reservoirs the same as oysters, 

 especially in places where the abundance of mud and 

 silt renders oyster culture difficult. 



A modification of the buchot method of myticulture 

 is employed in a part of the Lamotte Canal near Mar- 

 seilles. The canal is one of the branches v^hich puts 

 the sea in connection with Berre Lake and is traversed 

 back and forth continuously with the tidal waters which 

 contain great quantities of diatoms and infusoria mak- 

 ing it an especially rich place for the cultivation of mus- 

 sels. Because of the slight rise and fall of the tide in 

 this stream it is impossible to use the bouchot system 

 of culture. In place of it claies or movable wooden 

 frames are placed vertically between grooved stakes on 

 which they can rise and fall by means of a floating axis. 

 The grooved stakes are mounted with a cross tree bear- 

 ing a ring on the under side. The frame is surmounted 

 with a hook so that it can be raised from the water and 

 hung on the ring of the cross tree above. With this 

 device the mussel culturist can at will, gather, replenish, 

 wash or do any necessary work and when through return 

 the frame to the water. 



The capacity of one of these claies is about 10,000 mus- 

 sels weighing from 660 to 880 pounds. The young 

 mussels are collected on the shores of Berre Lake and 

 placed on the claies by the same method employed for 

 fixing seed mussels to the buchots. When of sufficient 

 size they are marketed without any further trans- 

 planting. 



Still another means for collecting spat and rearing 

 mussels is by means of the raft collector. It consists 

 of a raft from which hang planks or frames in a vertical 

 position. It is anchored in a region where mussels are 

 spawning and when covered with spat is towed to a 

 breeding basin where the rearing can take place without 

 any further care than to see that no mud accumulates 

 on the frames. The chief objection to this contrivance 



