CULTIVATION OF OYSTERS BY NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL METHODS. 11 



condition, covered over the top with a material which would admit the water 

 freely into the bottle, and placed it at the bottom of the sea, defended from 

 injury by fascines. Upon subsequent examination I found that the young 

 oysters had not adhered to the sides of the glass, though, in my opinion, there 

 was no reason why they should not do so, except the temperature of the water 

 surrounding the bottle. Experiment No. 2. — I obtained wooden boxes, and, 

 without injuring them, placed in each one or two spatting oysters ; I placed 

 tiles over these oysters, and over the tiles a covering of coarse canvas, the 

 meshes of the canvas being large enough to let in water, but not let out the 

 oyster-spat. My idea in doing this was to prove whether, or not, as has been 

 supposed by some, the spat immediately on being emitted from the parent 

 fixes itself. These boxes were placed on the foreshore in such a locality that 

 they would never be dry ; after they had been down one month I cut off the 

 canvas and examined the tiles, but not one single trace of oyster-spat could 

 be seen, the oysters which had been shut up in the box underneath the tiles 

 I found to be quite hearty, and to have got very fat on their captivity. I 

 tried the same idea in closing the spatting oyster between two flower-pots 

 wired together; here again the results were nil. To my mind these experi- 

 ments prove conclusively that the young ones cannot survive the state of 

 things favourable to their parent, and that they certainly do not adhere the 

 moment they are sent forth from their mother's shell. 



Comparison of the French and English System of Oyster-culture. 



I have now examined both methods very carefully, and have come to the 

 conclusion (and I am bound in honesty to state it) that in my humble opinion 

 the French system has been much overrated ; or at least the idea that the 

 system is applicable to this country is more or less fallacious. 



The public seem to have got it into their heads that our English system is 

 faulty, because for several successive years it failed to produce any large 

 number of oysters ; at the same time highly favourable reports were issued 

 of the success of cidtivating oysters in France by what is called the artificial 

 system. I candidly confess I was one of the first to fall into the trap, and 

 to imagine with others that, because the tiles, fascines, &c. were placed in the 

 sea, therefore the oysters could be made to breed, and that if you placed tiles 

 you would have oysters, if you placed no tiles you would have no oysters. 



As I have explained before, the English system is to catch the spat upon 

 culch, the French to catch it upon tiles. I have examined both systems, and 

 come to the conclusion that the tiles will (except under certain favourable 

 circumstances) never beat the culch. 



I have been to the Isle of Re, and have seen (through the great kindness 

 of Dr. Kemmerer) the whole system ; and the long and short of it is this :— 

 , For many years the oyster-spat in France was totally neglected, and the in- 

 habitants thought nothing about turning their beds to profitable account. 

 The learned pisciculturist, M. Coste, suggested the idea of tiles being placed 

 down, the idea having, I believe, been first suggested by a poor mason, M. 

 Bceuf, with whom I have had a long conversation. The tiles, fascines, &c. 

 were placed down under the patronage of the government, and they were 

 picked up covered with young oysters. The success was pronounced complete, 

 fascines and tiles were all the rage, and all those who had oyster-fisheries 

 thought their fortunes were made. 



The fact of the matter is, that the first year these various oyster-catching 

 implements were laid down happened to be a year famous for an exceed- 

 ingly heavy fall of spat ; in other words, a vast majority of the young spat 



