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341 
teen dredged in the common ground ; brood from the oyster grounds 
°f Cancale and Trequiers were distributed in ten longitudinal lines 
on tiles, fragments of pottery, and valves of shells. At the end of 
eight months the progress of the beds was tested, and the dredge 
in a few minutes brought up two thousand oysters fit for the table, 
Wile two fascines drawn up at random contained nearly twenty 
thousand, from one to two inches in diameter. Two of these fascines 
ex posed to public view at Beni and Patrieux excited the astonishment 
°f the maritime population. 
This result encouraged M. Oostc to pursue his experiments upon a 
greater scale, and he now proposed to bring the whole littoral under a 
re gnlated system of oyster culture. In the roads of Toulon and in 
Lake Thau, which touches this port, the same system was put in 
Wee by the Administration of Marine as had already been done in the 
Lay of Arcachon and in the Isle of Be. In these localities oyster 
cu ltur e assumed gigantic proportions. Associations were formed for 
Lie purpose of prosecuting them and forming oyster-parks. 
These exertions roused the curiosity of foreign nations. Van 
Leneden, a distinguished naturalist ot Louvain, and M. Eschrecht oi 
Copenhagen, visited France to study the arrangements for oyster cul- 
ture. M ( ’oste demonstrated that parks could be established on all 
Places visited by the tide, and under his advice the Bay of Arcachon 
L now transformed into a vast field ot production, which increases 
ev ery day, giving the happiest presages of an abundant harvest. 
Already twelve hundred capitalists, associated with a similar number 
°t fishermen, occupy a surface of nine hundred and eighty-eight acres, 
"Wr-li emerge at low water. In this hay the State has organized two 
Uu 'del farms for experimental purposes, in which tiles, fascines, ana 
Wves of shells are laid down with other appliances, to which the 
y°Ung oysters may attach themselves. These expedients have been so 
SUc cessful that the park, which has cost about £114, is now estimated 
he worth about £8000 in money, with a total of five million oysters, 
Lige and small. The Isle of Be, which was originally surrounded by 
a muddy bottom ill adapted for oyster culture, has been totally 
Ranged, so that in two years four leagues of foreshore have been 
Wued into a rich and profitable oyster-bed ; twelve hundred parks are 
lri lull activity, and two thousand others are in course ol construction, 
Lie whole forming a complete girdle round the island. 
