372 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
October at least the size of a finger nail, and detroquage commences, tbis operation 
being often finished before the coldest weather. Some proprietors allow the oysters 
to remain unseparated until spring — Trinite River, for example — but in shallow waters 
there is danger of losing the entire set from freezing. 
DETROQUAGE AND TRANSPORTATION. 
Detroquage begins with the carrying of all the collectors to the neighboring shops 
(Plate lxxii, Fig. 1) . Everything is made ready ; the camions and gabarets are carefully 
taken apart and the tiles placed on lighters; as the tide rises these are gradually 
floated ashore and promptly unloaded. Each cargo is precious to the proprietor, for 
he can at once sell the tiles for immediate transport at an average price of $10 per 100. 
The tiles are arranged in small heaps, and the operation of separating the seed oysters 
commences. The plaster coating of the tile, softened by water, is readily flaked off 
with the oysters adherent, by short pushes of a chisel-like knife. The women who 
perform the task become extremely skillful, each separatiug perhaps 20,000 seed during 
the day. The loss is but trifling, estimated in general from 2 to 5 per cent. 
The young oysters are at once placed in baskets to be transferred to neighboring 
growing ponds, or are packed directly for transport. Their price is a variable one, 
dependent upon size, locality, and scarcity, but usually ranges from 50 cents to 
$2.50 per 1,000.* Each proprietor has his clientele of eleveurs and finds but little 
difficulty in disposing of his product. Curiously enough, transportation at this stage 
does not appear to be dangerous. The proportion of seed lost during a journey of 
three or four days is but trifling. I am told that even after a stormy transport from 
Auray to the Irish coast, taking in all nine days, more than two-thirds of the cargo 
was found in good condition. 
Before concluding the discussion of seed oysters, a few words must be said (a) in 
regard to production in closed ponds, and (6) of the importance of the reservation by 
Government of oyster-bearing tracts. 
Production in closed ponds . — All production thus far considered has been that of 
open bays or rivers. Here, however, everything is at the mercy of season and weather, 
and profits every culturist alike. The French, however, recognize that the ideal pro- 
duction can only be carried on in closed ponds provided with spawning oysters, where 
by favorable conditions a great percentage of the myriads of young might be success- 
fully collected. During the present season a most remarkable success in this pro- 
duction has been made by Mme. Veuve de Saint- Sauveur, in her lake at Breneguy, 
adjacent to the mouth of the river Auray. Experiments in this line have usually failed 
the second year ; but in this case the principles seem far more likely to promise con- 
tinued success. They are at least worthy of discussion. 
The lake is, in the first place, a large one, covering a rounded basin of about a 
hundred acres (Plate lxxvii, Fig. 1.) It had originally been a salt marsh, of a bottom 
naturally clayey. It was converted into a pond by constructing a high bank on the 
one side and finishing the inclosure by a massive sea-wall on the other. Here, as the 
tide is favorable, two great flood-gates prevent the escape of the water, allowing an 
average depth to be maintained of about 4 feet. The management of the lake has 
been an extremely rational one. During the past winter the pond had been well dried, 
* A letter from Arcachon tells me that the set of the present year has been so great that the price 
has fallen to 10 cents. 
