0STREAD2E. 
343 
a t Maremies is insufficient to supply the demand. About a third 
°f the provision intended for the claires come from the coasts of 
Brittany, of Normandy, and La Vendee. “ These foreign oysters, 
says M. Coste, “ never attain the fine flavour of those bred in the 
Reality. It is necessary to keep them for a long time in the claires 
Wore they are sufficiently ameliorated, and, even when they become 
green, they retain traces of their primitive nature, remaining hard, in 
spite of the new qualities imparted to them by cultivation ; a certain 
bitterness remains, which is easily distinguished by the true amateur ; 
it is the same with indigenous adult oysters. When they are taken at 
Ibis stage of their' existence the colouring does not succeed with them ;— 
is only, so to speak, the false brand used to give a speculative value 
to the merchandise. It is not enough that the mollusc should have 
a We flavour; it must have the peculiar taste. It is not enough that 
|t has the green hue; it is necessary that these qualities should pervade 
it from tlie° earliest age, aud that the culture of the claires should con- 
tinue to the end.” It is thus necessary that the oysters for the claires 
of Marennes should be selected when from twelve to eighteen months 
that the shells should be well-formed, and free from all foreign 
b°dies adhering to the surface. Being thus carefully picked out, the 
0 l'sters are distributed over the bottom of the claires with a shovel, 
a W afterwards so arranged by the hand that they may not touch each 
°fber w hen they increase in size ; that they do not embarrass each 
oilier by the movements of their valves; and that nothing should 
biterf'ere with the regularity of their forms. The young colony re- 
Poses nnder a sheet of water from twelve to eighteen inches deep, 
"bich is, as we have sakl, only renewed at spring tides, which reach 
ibe level. Nor are the oysters abandoned to themselves in these pri- 
Wged beds while they are growing and ripening. They are objects 
continual care and of special manipulation. The spring tides 
Wit the claires charged with mud, which, if deposited in the motion- 
's basins, would act as a mortal poison to the young mollusc ; 
bcuco the necessity of transporting them from one clave charged 
Wh mud into others free from such accumulations : and this is a 
P r °cess in constant operation until the animals are finally gathered 
f ° r consumption. Oysters deposited in the claires aged eigiteen 
f*°ntlis should remain two years before they are ready for use ; but 
ibi’ee and even four years are required to give them the full degree of 
