352 THE ILE DE RE. 



spawn had occurred, and the bottom shells were covered with 

 the spat, while the fascines were so thickly coated with young 

 oysters that an estimate of 20,000 for each fascine was not 

 thought an exaggeration. 



In a piscicultural report for 1860, we obtain, in connec- 

 tion with the St. Brieuc experiments, an idea of the cost of 

 oyster-breeding, which I translate for the benefit of people at 

 home : " The total expenses for forming a bank were 221 

 francs ; and if the 300 fascines laid down upon it be multiplied 

 by 20,000 (the number of oysters they contain), 6,000,000 will 

 be obtained, which, if sold at twenty francs a thousand, will 

 produce 120,000 francs. If, however, the number of oysters on 

 a fascine were to be reckoned at only 10,000, the sum of 60,000 

 francs would be received, which, for an expenditure of only 

 221 francs, would give a larger profit than any other branch 

 of industry." 



Twelve months, however, before the date of the experiments 

 I have been describing at St. Brieuc, the artificial culture of 

 oysters had successfully commenced on another part of the 

 coast namely, the He de Ee off the shore of the lower Charente 

 (near la Eochelle), in the Bay of Biscay, which may now be 

 designated the capital of French oysterdom, having more pares 

 and claires than Marennes, Arcachon, Concarneau, Cancale, 

 and all the rest of the coast put together, and which, before it 

 became celebrated for its oyster-growing, was only known in 

 common with other places in France for its successful culture 

 of the vine. It is curious to note the rapid growth of the 

 industry of oyster-culture on the He de Ee. It was begun so 

 recently as 1858, and there are now upwards of 4000 parks and 

 claires upon its shores, and the people may be seen as busy in 

 their fish-parks as the market-gardeners of Kent in their straw- 

 berry-beds. Oyster-farming on the He was inaugurated by a 

 stone-mason having the curious name of Beef. 



This shrewd fellow, who was a keen observer of nature, 



