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Part III. — Eighth Annual Report 
IV. — OYSTER CULTURE IN FRANCE AND HOLLAND. By 
J. H. Fullarton, M.A,, D.Sc. 
The oyster fisheries of Scotland, which were once so productive, have 
now reached a very low ebb, the value of oysters taken in 1888 being only 
£742 ; and unless measures are adopted to arrest the decline of these 
fisheries and promote their artificial culture and rearing, as well as to 
afford adequate protection, we cannot expect to derive an increased 
revenue from a source whence it is quite possible to obtain an important 
increase. In other countries the oyster industry has passed through a 
similar stage. In France, Holland, and America the natural beds proved 
quite inadequate to meet the public demands, as they had been over-fished 
and depleted like those in Scotland. The destruction and depletion of 
the beds in these countries was not allowed to go on indefinitely, as has 
been the case in Scotland. Foreign Governments took up the subject 
before absolute destruction had taken place, and established oyster culture 
on an extensive scale. The results to them have been most satisfactory, 
and at the present day the yield of oysters is greater than it has ever been 
With the object of becoming acquainted with the different methods I 
visited the chief oyster centres from the East Schelde in Holland to 
Arcachon in the south-west of France, and the main features of the 
system is set forth in this paper. 
The breeding and rearing of oysters is carried on in France and Holland 
most successfully. In the Autumn of 1889 I visited the Dutch oyster 
1 pares' in the East Schelde, and have to record my thanks for the facilities 
and kindness shown me by Dr Hoek, scientific adviser in fisheries of the 
Dutch Government, Mr C. J. Bottemanne, chief inspector of fisheries to 
the Zealand Fishery Board, and Dr de Leeuw of the Wemeldinge Oyster 
Company. Afterwards, I visited the chief French 'pares,' from Arcachon 
northwards along the Atlantic coast to St. Malo and Cancale. M. 
Raveret-Wattel, secretary of the National Society of Acclimatisation of 
France, and Dr Brocchi whose scientific labours on oyster-culture on 
behalf of the French Ministry of Marine are witnessed by his various 
works on the subject, facilitated my visits to different parts of the French 
littoral, and greatly helped me, by advice and otherwise, in my examination 
of the latest developments and newest methods in oyster-culture. To them 
I have to express my appreciation of their kindness. 
The French have led the way in oyster-culture, and the Dutch have 
shown themselves apt pupils of the French pioneers. According to Pliny, 
Sergius Orata, a contemporary of Lucius Crassus the orator, has the 
honour of being the father of oyster-culture ; but modern oyster-culture 
dates back upwards of thirty years to the time of M. Coste, who, in his 
projects for resuscitating the declining oyster industry of France, was 
powerfully assisted by the late Emperor of the French. Had it not been 
for the ungrudging support of the French Government of that day, France 
would not likely now be deriving such great revenues as she does from the 
oyster pares. M. Coste, of the Institute of France, an enthusiastic 
pisciculturist, may be called the father of modern oyster-culture. The 
oyster industry of France had been gradually declining towards the middle 
of the present century, and the first step towards reviving it may be fixed 
as the journey which M. Coste took, by command of the French emperor, 
to Lake Fusaro in Italy, where oyster-culture had been carried on for 
many years. M. Coste, having informed himself of the Italian method, 
took up the subject with great enthusiasm, and persuaded his sovereign 
