138 The Co7nmercial Products of the Sea. 



stantial embankments erected at great cost, has succeeded 

 most completely in doing so. In 1876 M. d'Argy laid down 

 6,000,000 oysters, 3,500,000 being of the five-centimetre 

 size. These have grown well, and the large ones were also 

 in good condition ; indeed, so satisfactory have been his 

 efforts that he has been enabled to contract for the present 

 supply of 1,000,000 marketable oysters to London and the 

 same to Paris, while the quantity despatched to each place 

 will shortly be increased to 2,000,000. 



The official value of the produce of the principal oyster 

 fisheries in France in 1873 was given as follows : — 



Quarters. 



Francs. 



Sables d'Olonne ... 



60,200 



Noimontiers 



79,876 



De Vannes 



98,590 



D'Auray ... 



... 274,849 



L' Orient ... 



35,000 



Paimpol ... 



105,800 



Cancale ... 



... 595,020 



Granville ... 



61,595 



La Hougue 



183,085 



Caen 



96,786 



Havre 



121,800 



Calais 



..i 28,932 



Teste 



1,736,032 



The dredging in the ports of Granville, Cancale, and 

 L'Orient produced in 1873 12,805,000 oysters, against 

 4,586,000 oysters in the previous year. In 1874 the pro- 

 duce at Cancale was 13,454,000 oysters. 



The follov/ing official statement, lately published, gives 

 the statistics of the commerce in oysters in France for the 

 seasons ist September to 30th April : — 



Price per looo. 



Oysters taken from the beds. Value in francs. Francs. 



1874 ... 104,731,350 ... 7,727,000 ... 7378 



1875 ... 227,640,212 ... 11,247,416 ... 49*40 



1876 ... 335,774,070 ... 13,226,296 ... 39-39 



