286 



VIEW OF THE FAEM. 



bunches become deteriorated, in spite of all the precautions that 

 can be taken. This, of course, distresses the boucholiers, as 

 one of their points is the superior flavour of their produce ; 

 indeed, it was the superiority of the mussels, as discovered by 

 accident through Walton's bird-net, which was set so as to 

 float high above the mud — ^the quality of the mussel more than 

 the quantity — that influenced Walton to commence as a 

 mussel-farmer; and to this day it is still quality more than 

 quantity that the boucholiers study at Esnandes. After the 

 process of about a year's farming has been imdergone, the 



A MUSSEL-FARM. 



mussels are considered to be ready for the market, and by 

 the care of the farmer, the mussels are in season aU the year 

 round, although, of course, not so good for food at some periods 

 of the year as at others ; thus, the AiguiUon mussels are not 

 so fine in the spring months as they are in the autumnal 

 periods of the year, when they became deliciously fat and 

 savoury ; indeed, I can bear testimony, having had a feast of 

 them, to the fact of their being better, larger in size, and more 

 pronounced in their flavour, than any of the British mussels I 

 have tasted. About April the mussels become milky and 



