IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND FRANCE. 23 



Fifty- six hauls of the dredge in 1867, before the company was 

 established, resulted in nine brood and spat, and nine oysters of 

 larger growth. 



Recently (writing in 1870) Mr. Pennell states that two succes- 

 sive hauls gave — First haul, three brood and sixty-eight spat ; 

 second haul, three brood and seventy-five spat (oysters of larger 

 growth not counted), or an increase of 450 to one as compared 

 with 1867. 



A stock of oysters to the value of £1 1,631 had been laid upon 

 the ground in 1868 and 1869. 



The Roach River Company have reclaimed thirty acres of simi- 

 lar foreshore and 270 acres of ordinary ground, and the result is 

 equally satisfactory. In 1864, 150 hauls of the dredge gave a 

 total of thirty-eight oysters of all ages, and in 1869, one haul 

 gave 100 brood and 153 spat, or an increase of brood and spat 

 above 1,000 to one as compared with 1864. 



That oysters cannot be dredged too much, is the opinion of 

 the oysterculturist from the muddy rivers of the east coast, while 

 those who have ground in rapid and clear water, depose exactly 

 the opposite — that rest is all that exhausted grounds require. 



We have no hesitation in saying that all laws, to be beneficial, 

 must consist of regulations adapted to the requirements of the 

 locality, and not consist of a series of general rules arbitrarily 

 adopted and enforced in despair of obtaining the truth when 

 evidence so very conflicting is offered. 



The cultivation of the foreshores at Auray we have already 

 mentioned as a success. From the bridge to the sea, a distance 

 of twelve miles, the shores of the rivers are the scene of oyster 

 cultivation, such as, we trust, will in a few years be seen on 

 many river banks both in England and Ireland. The process is 

 of the simplest kind. Each concession, duly bounded and marked 

 by a numbered post or stone, contains nothing more complicated 

 than rows of tiles arranged so as to offer clean under- surfaces for 

 the adhesion of the spat, which rises from the preserved banks in 

 the river. To keep these clean, to remove all oysters of a year's 

 growth, to lay them in claires to develop and grow, is all that is 

 needful, and the result is entirely satisfactory. Upon the length 

 of foreshore named no less than 88 pares have been constructed. 



The number of oysters at the time of our visit on some of the 

 tiles was stated to be three hundred. 



The cultivation at the other places named — lie de Re, He 

 d'Oleron, Rochers dAire, Chattellalion — is the same, modified as 

 to the nature and arrangement of the collectors as required by 

 the conditions of the locality. The western coast of Re is open to 

 the full force of the Atlantic, and appears about as unpromising 

 a place for oyster culture as one can imagine. The energy of 

 the inhabitants, prompted, no doubt, by the success which attended 

 the pares at Rivedoux, on the south coast, overcame all difficulties. 

 The commune of Ars boldly attacked the enterprise under all its 

 apparent disadvantages. Blasting the rocks, they constructed their 

 enclosing walls of great strength, and removed the mud, which 

 lay to the depth of a foot on the shore. The same stones furnished 



