WHAT CAN BE DONE IN FOUR YEAES. 245 



■farmers, and carriage-ways had likewise to be made to admit of 

 the progress of vehicles through the different farms. Ditches 

 had to be contrived to carry off the mud ; the parks had to be 

 stocked with breeding oysters, and to be kept carefiiUy free 

 from the various kinds of sea animals that prey upon the oyster ; 

 and many other daily duties had to be performed that demanded 

 the minute attention of the owners. But all obstacles were in 

 time overcome, and some of the breeders have been so very 



OYSTER-PARKS. 



successful of late years as to be offered a sum of £100 for the 

 brood attached to twelve of their rows of stones, the cost ot 

 laying these down being about two hundred francs ! To con- 

 struct an oyster-bed t^rty yards square costs about £12 ot 

 English money, and it has been calculated that the return from 

 some of the beds has been as high as 1000 per cent ! The 

 whole industry of the He is wonderful when it is considered 

 that it has been all organised in a period of seven years. 

 Except a few privately-kept oysters, there was no oyster 

 establishment on the island previous to 1858. 



