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Part III — Eighth Annual Report 
ground, the ostreiculturist of capital does not lay the tiles on the ground, 
but places them in crate-like structures, the tiles being arranged after the 
same manner as those on the ground. This method prevents breakages, 
and facilitates the deposit and lifting of the collectors. 
Neither of these methods — dispositions des tuiles en ruches — will suit 
the state of matters in the indentations or rivers of the Moibihan. The 
mud there is as soft as it is on the mussel beds of our coast, and another 
method of arranging the tiles had to be devised. M. Leroux in 18G6 hit 
on a method whereby the tiles could be employed as collectors and still 
not be in contact with the bottom. It is known as the arrangement of 
the tiles in bouquets — disposition des tuiles en bouquets — and the lowest 
of the tiles is from 6 to 8 inches above the level of the mud. Tiles of 
about 13 inches are chosen, which are convex on the upper side and 
concave on the lower. At either end of each tile a hole is bored for the 
passage of a galvanised iron wire. There are two tiles running parallel 
in the lowest row, and placed transversely at either end to these are two 
other tiles, through which the four wires are passed. This transverse 
arrangement and stringing of tiles on four wires is continued till there 
are altogether ten or twelve tiles strung together. A pole several feet 
long is passed through the space in the centre of the arrangement 
parallel to the wires, and the four wires are fastened to the top of this 
pole. The four wires at the bottom are also bound to the pole, and the 
whole arrangement has been compared to a mushroom — champignon — 
where the pole represents the stalk and the tiles the umbrella of the 
mushroom. The pole, loaded with the ten or twelve tiles, is inserted in 
the mud till the lowest tile is at least six inches above the surface of the 
mud. 
Besides the tiles and the shells, planks of wood in some places are em- 
ployed as collectors of spat, but I have only seen them used by the 
peasants. They are coated with a mixture of similar composition to what 
is put on the tiles, and several of them are nailed together by small cross 
pieces, the whole being anchored some distance above the bottom of the 
collecting ground. 
In some places the Portuguese oyster attaches itself to the rocks on the 
foreshores, and the peasants strip them off when this is possible by a chisel- 
like knife. 
In Holland the tiles which are placed in the sea in June or July must 
be lifted under penalty of a heavy fine before the first of December. 
Some of the Dutch ostreiculturists remove the young oysters straightway 
from the tiles, but Dr. de Leeuw, who has been called the most scientific of 
Dutch ostreiculturists, transfers his tiles when lifted from the sea to theponds 
which are constructed inside of the dyke in the polder. Others, however, 
remove the young oysters at once from the tiles and place them in cases 
in the hospitaals ; but the Wemeldinge Oyster Company does not remove 
the oysters from the tiles till they are one year old. 
In the Morbihan the president of the Society of Ostreiculturists — Mr 
Jardin — places his tiles in the sea between 15th June and 31st July, and 
does not lift them till 1st March, when the young oysters are removed 
from them. Others again allow them to remain on the tiles for a longer 
period, in some cases as many as eighteen months or even two years before 
they are removed. Those parquers who don't coat the tiles with mortar, 
remove the oysters — huitres a tesson — therefrom by breaking the tiles at 
the end of the first year. 
The young oysters which have been removed from the collectors are 
carefully nursed and tended from their enemies till they are protected by 
a thick shell, when they are transferred to the growing places. At the 
