162 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
could be tried at trifling expense. The current in Bayou Cook, like that in nearly all the salt or 
brackish bayous, while bringing down the finest food for the fattening of planted oysters, prevents 
to a great degree the satisfactory "fixing of spat,” as the spawn is carried out, in large part, into 
Bastian Bay or the Gulf, into which Bayou Cook empties, where it is nearly entirely lost. The 
reckless and wasteful fishing of the natural reefs in that neighborhood has denuded and destroyed 
them, so that planters in the bayou now have to go over 60 miles to the westward, mainly to 
Timbalier Bay, to get seed or young oysters for planting. The Timbalier natural reefs are being 
rapidly exhausted from the same causes as the eastward, and fishing in a few years will be entirely 
exhausted unless the matter is regulated by stringent legislation and execution of the laws. The 
planters, and indeed the fishers for market, will be forced to go farther west still when the Timbalier 
fisheries are destroyed. 
It is therefore contemplated for the company to raise its own seed in the following manner : The 
soil on the banks of the bayou being soft and marshy, an area of a quarter or half an acre can be 
readily excavated by spading to the depth of from 4 to 6 feet. An inlet, say 10 feet wide, can be cut 
in from the bayou so as to admit the waters thereof, and a similar outlet can be made into the bay, 
through which the water can be partially discharged into the sea at low tide, the reverse flow taking 
place at high tide. These openings may be closed by close-meshed nettings of galvanized wire or 
other suitable material, so as to protect the breeding oysters and spawn, in the pond to a great extent 
at least from drumfish, starfish, boxers, conchs, crabs, and other enemies of the oyster. Benches of 
poles can then be erected in the “claire” or pond, and on them will be placed earthenware tiles, or 
half tiles, previously limed. These tiles or half tiles can be procured frpm a tile factory a few miles 
above on the Mississippi River at a nominal price for the broken or damaged unsalable half tiles 
which would answer the purpose. 
The pond or "claire” can then be stocked with breeding oysters, carefully selected from prime 
stock. Indeed, by importation from northern and eastern quarters, crosses could be experimented with 
by interbreeding with the native bivalve. In the spawning season the ova of the female and the milt of 
the male would, in this comparatively still water, more readily coalesce with their "affinities” of the 
opposite sex, and a larger product of the embryo oyster be furnished. This embryo or "spat” would 
readily "fix” on the tiles. When this spat is sufficiently developed in size to plant, the wire-netting 
screens can be removed and small flatboats or shallops introduced into the "claires,” the tiles covered 
with spat removed from the benches and loaded on the flatboats. These being carried out into the 
bayou, the young plants can be scaled off the tiles with trowels or similar instruments, and dropped 
into and on the plant or growing beds, there to fatten, grow, and mature until ready for market. 
The tiles being then relimed may be placed back in the “ claires” ready for the “fixing” of the next 
season’s spat. In other words, the "claires” would be used as nurseries for the raising and growing 
of spat, which might be perhaps further improved and developed by artificial feeding. 
The system is called the “French,” but is in fact the old Roman method, as frequent mention is 
made in the old Latin writers of "oyster ponds.” The French, it is said by French writers, have 
also made use of these "claires” as "dcoles des huitres,” by which they profess to be able to teach 
the oysters, by gradually increasing the length of time during which the oyster is without water, to 
take in an extra supply of water like a camel about to cross a desert, so as to last through transporta- 
tion on long voyages and keep the mollusks in good condition. It is not definitely known that this 
last method has ever been tried in America, although it is believed that it has been — and that suc- 
cessfully. American biologists (humorously styled here "oyster sharps”) are, however, skeptical on 
the subject. The French governmental reports seem to substantiate the practicability of the method. 
In case the idea is adopted, when the Bayou Cook Company gets into operation it will report 
progress and results to the United States Fish Commission. If successful, each oyster-culturist will 
be independent of the natural reefs, can obtain all the necessary seed or spat in his own inclosure, 
and vastly improve the poorer species of the native oyster by interbreeding with other and choicer 
varieties, besides improving much the preservation of oysters in shipment in their full excellence 
when delivered to the consumer at far distant points. If successful, it could be conducted on a very 
large scale, and it would be profitable for some planters to embark in the business of raising and 
selling the young plants exclusively as a special branch of the trade. It would produce a revolution 
in oyster-culture. 
In reference to the opposition of oystermen to the enactment of oyster-planting 
laws, Mr. Blackford referred to meetings at which the oyster fishermen had had their 
