of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 
221 
the French, and mussels could be sold afc £2 per ton, then the Scottish 
bouchot would require to yield three times the quantity of mussels that 
the Aiguillon bouchots yield. From what has been already said as to 
the experiment at St Andrews, the very opposite is the case ; the proba- 
bility is, that at no place on the Scottish coast will bouchot mussel 
culture yield the same results as does the system of bouchot culture in 
France. 
As to the figures of cost of material for the erection of bouchots in 
Scotland, I have selected the very lowest estimate of the price of posts 
and wattling ; and in partial corroboration, I may mention that one 
witness* stated to the Mussel and Bait Commission, the costs of what I 
have stated as £10, 5s. 3d., as £17, 17s. If, therefore, his estimate were 
taken as to costs, instead of mussels being sold at £5, 19s. 9d. per ton in 
Scotland, they would require to be sold at a much higher price than this 
if the fisherman was to obtain wages at 20s. per week. 
Conclusion. 
The bouchot experiment, therefore, does not promise to yield in Scot- 
land the same good results as in France. This is due to the character of 
the mud along our shores, to the climatal conditions of our Scottish 
waters, and the influence of these on animal life. But the financial 
aspect of the question, as shown above, is absolutely fatal to the system. 
I cannot conceive what modifications of the bouchdt system would be 
likely to yield results which would benefit the fishermen of Scotland, 
nor mitigate in any important degree the mussel famine ; while the bed 
system only requires to be developed in suitable localities in order that 
fishermen may obtain an ample supply of bait at a cheap rate and on 
sound financial principles. 
* Report of Committee on Scottish Mussel and Bait Beds, p. 149, 1889. 
