GROWTH OF THE PAEK SYSTEM. 243 



and wondering if it could be cawied out on those portions of the 

 public foreshore that were left dry by the ebb of the waters. 

 He determined to try 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 by 

 building a rough dyke 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 was so 

 successful, that in the course of a year he was able to seU £6 

 worth of oysters from his stock. This result was of course very 

 encouraging to the enterprising mason, and the money was just 

 in a sense found money, for the oysters went on growing whUe 

 he was at work at his own proper business as a mason. Elated 

 by the profit of his experiment, he proceeded to double the pro- 

 portions of his park, and by that means more than doubled his 

 oyster commerce, for, in 1861, he was able to dispose of upwards 

 of £20 worth, and this without impoverishing, in the least de- 

 gree, his breeding stock. He continued to increase the dimen- 

 sions of his farm, so that by 1862 his sales had increased to £40. 

 As might have been expected, Bceufs neighbours had been 

 carefully watching his experiments, uttering occasional sneers, 

 no doubt, at his enthusiasm ; but, for all that, quite ready to go 

 and do likewise whenever the success of the industrious mason's 

 experiments became sufficiently developed to show that they 

 were profitable as well as practical. After Boeuf had demon- 

 strated the practicability of oyster-farming, the extension of the 

 system over the foreshores of the island, between Point de 

 Eivedoux and Point de Lome, was rapid and effective ; so much 

 so that two hundred beds were conceded by the Government 

 previous to 1859, while an additional five hundred beds were 

 speedily laid down, and in 1860 large quantities of brood were 

 sold to the oyster-farmers at Marennes, for the purpose of being 

 manufactured into green oysters in their claires on the banks of 

 the river Seudre. The first sales after cultivation had become 

 general amounted to £126, and the next season the sum reached 

 in sales was upwards of £500, and these monies, be it observed, 

 were for very yoimg oysters ; because, from an examination of 

 the dates, it will at once, be seen that the brood had not had time 

 to grow to any great size. So rapid indeed has been the progress 

 of oyster-culture at the He de Ke, that what were formerly a 

 series of enormous and unproductive mud-banks, occupying a 



