252 MARITIME PISCICULTUKE. 



men, who manned 200 boats, are now reduced to three, 

 employing 20 boats. And with this diminished produc- 

 tion there is a largely increased demand, railways hav- 

 ing multiplied the means of intercourse with the coast 

 and the numbers of the population anxious to share in 

 the products of the ocean. M. Coste consoles the Em- 

 peror by the assurance that for this deplorable state of 

 things there is a remedy, easy of application, and cer- 

 tain to augment immensely the means of public alimen- 

 tation. He proposes, in short, to put in practice, on a 

 large scale, the mode of rearing oysters which he had 

 witnessed at Fusaro ; and suggests the bay of Saint 

 Brieuc as the locality of his interesting experiment. 

 The problem for solution is this : Of the from one to 

 two millions of young produced by an oyster, only from 

 ten to twelve remain attached to the shells of the 

 mother. How is this to be prevented, so that these 

 swarming molluscs shall be fixed on the bottom of the 

 sea, instead of being scattered by its waves ? The me- 

 thod suggested does not deprive the natural beds of 

 any portion which they generally retain, arid yet it may 

 yield to us incalculable riches. In order to obtain them, 

 we have only to deposit in sheltered banks, hurdles, 

 and stakes still retaining their bark, and kept at the 

 bottom by weights, and laid flat, so as not to interfere 

 with navigation. The progeny of the oysters placed 

 below these will rise like a cloud of animated dust 

 through the branches, and the embryos of which it con- 

 sists will encrust every part of the apparatus devised 

 for the reception of the seed. After remaining on it 

 for a certain period, the young shell-fish will spontane- 

 ously be detached, and fall to the bottom (previously 

 cleaned by the drag), like the seed of the sower in the 

 ground prepared by the harrow. And then, in a pas- 

 sage of seductive eloquence, the enthusiastic naturalist 

 promises that, if his imperial patron will supply the 

 very moderate expenditure to be incurred, the whole 

 coast of France shall be converted into a long chain 



