KNIGHT — ON OYSTER CULTURE. 45 



appliances for collecting them. At the age of three months an 

 oyster is not much bigger than a pea ; and the age at which re- 

 production begins has never been accurately ascertained, but it 

 is thought to be three years. Oysters are usually four years old 

 before they are sent to market. At the ao-e of five vears it is at 

 its prime ; audits average duration of life is said to be ten years. 

 To return to M. Coste and his experiments. The Lake 

 Fusaro system oi' cultivation was therefore, at the instance of 

 their savans, strongly recommended for imitation by the French 

 Government to the French people, and experiments Avere at 

 once entered upon with a view to prove whether it would be as 

 practicable to cultivate oysters as easily among the agitated 

 waves of the open sea, as in the quiet waters of Fusaro. In 

 order to settle this point, it was determined to renew the old 

 oyster-beds in the bay of St. Brienne, and notwithstanding the 

 fact that the water there is exceedingly deep and the winds very 

 violent, (situated opposite the English coast west of the old 

 sea-port of St. Malo,) immediate and almost miraculous success 

 was the result. The lasciues laid down soon became covered, 

 with seed, and branches were speedily exhibited at Paris, and 

 other places, containing thousands of young oysters. (A half 

 a million is on the average the amount of spat which an oyster 

 can " brew" in one season.) In less than six months the suc- 

 cess of the operation in the bay of St. Brienne was assured, the 

 fascines being so thickly coated Avith young oysters that an 

 estimate of 20,000 for each fascine was not thought an ex-^ 

 aggeration. 



While M. Coste was, however, exploring the coasts, and study- 

 ing Italian oyster culture, and in giving a practical direction to 

 the knowledge he acquired ; a shrewd observer, a mason named 

 Boeuf, began simultaneously to think of oyster-culture in France. 

 He began by trying the experiment on a small scale, so as to 

 obtain a practical solution of his " idea," and with this view he 

 enclosed a small portion of the foreshore of the island of Re, by 

 building a dyke of about eighteen inches in height. In this 

 park he laid down a few bushels of growing oysters, placing, 

 amongst them a quantity of large stones,- which he gathered out 

 of the surrounding mud. This initiatory experiment Avas so sue- 



