228 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. 



old shells on the beds and the faggots and banks were 

 covered with minute oysters. 



On the Island of Ree this improved mode of culture 

 was commenced a year before Mr. Coste's experiments 

 were under way in the Bay of St. Brieuc, and in 1864, 

 according to Galignani's Messenger, seventy-two millions 

 of oysters were produced, four thousand parks and claires 

 being used in growing them. Seven thousand of the 

 inhabitants, many of them coming from the interior of the 

 island, were soon engaged in the occupation. The whole 

 thing on the Island of Ree was initiated by a shrewd 

 stone-mason, bearing the singular name of Beef. Enclos- 

 ing a small portion of the shore with a rough dyke eighteen 

 inches in height, and strewing some large stones over the 

 area, he planted a few bushels of oysters. While attend- 

 ing to his proper avocation his little oyster farm was pro- 

 gressing, and he was able to sell thirty dollars worth of the 

 young from his stock the first year. By doubling the size 

 of his enclosure he doubled his sales the following season, 

 and in four years his income from this source amounted to 

 two hundred dollars. Of course his neighbors were not 

 slow in profiting by his example. The consequence has 

 been that the shore, productive in oysters many years 

 ago, but which had become almost worthless from an accu- 

 mulation of mud, was made to produce many fold beyond 

 the yield it had given in its palmy days of old. 



On the Island of Jersey and in many places along the 

 English coast, where oysters had been grown for many 

 years for the London and other large markets, they are now 



