360 HOW TO GREEN OYSTERS. [CHAP. vin. 



or workers can walk to and fro and view the different ponds. 

 The flood-gates for the admission of the tide require also to be 

 thoroughly watertight and to fit with great precision, as the 

 stock of oysters must always be kept covered with water ; but 

 a too frequent flow of the tide over the ponds is not desirable, 

 hence the walls, which serve the double purpose of both 

 keeping in and keeping out the water. A trench or ditch is 

 cut in the inside of each pond for the better collection of 

 the green slime left at each flow of the tide, and many tidal 

 inundations are necessary before the claire is thoroughly pre- 

 pared for the reception of its stock. When all these matters 

 of construction and slime-collecting have been attended to, the 

 oysters are then scattered over the ground, and left to fatten. 

 When placed in these greening claire s they are usually from 

 twelve to sixteen months old, and they must remain for a 

 period of two years at least before they can be properly 

 greened, and if left a year longer they are all the better ; for 

 I maintain that an oyster should be at least about four years 

 old before it is sent to table. In a privately-printed pamphlet 

 on the French oyster-fisheries, sent to me by Mr. Ashworth, 

 it is stated that oysters deposited in the claires for feeding 

 possess the same powers of reproduction as those kept in the 

 breeding-ponds. " Their progeny is deposited in the same 

 profusion, but that progeny not coming in contact with any 

 solid body, it inevitably perishes, unless it can attach itself to 

 the vertical sides of some erection." A very great deal of 

 attention must be devoted to the oysters while they are in 

 the greening-pond, and they must be occasionally shifted 

 from one pond to another to ensure perfect success. Many 

 of the oyster-farmers of Marennes have two or three claires 

 suitable for their purpose. The trade in these green oysters 

 is very large, and they are found to be both palatable and 

 safe, the greening matter being furnished by the sea. Some 

 of the breeders or rather manufacturers of green oysters, 



