OYSTER-CULTUKE IN FRANCE. 
383 
warrant a dozen collectors, tlie same locality would certainly be far more profitable if 
collectors were established by myriads. A plan, neither costly nor difficult, would 
be to experiment with a few collectors and determine expenses of production. We 
may then compare the rate of cost with the market price of seed as now obtained. 
First expenditures would naturally be at the maximum; that is, for collectors and 
labor yet unskilled. At the outset, for example, a collector of 150 tiles might cost $3; 
but, should collectors be subsequently manufactured in number, the price might read- 
ily be reduced one-half. We should not forget that these collectors are said to last a 
generation, if one-tenth of their first cost is expended in annual tarring and repairs. 
Each collector should with us produce 15,000 seed; there remains but to find what will 
be the total cost of production. 
The rearing case should be most strongly recommended at home. Without it the 
French industry would be impracticable ; it is as important a factor to their cultural 
methods as the tile itself; it protects the delicate seed against its many enemies; it 
keeps the oyster just high enough from the ground to protect it against shiftings of 
mud or sand, and gives it at the same time the best conditions for rapid fattening and 
growth. Our oysterman at present purchases his bushels of seed and strews them 
over his ground below 2 fathoms of water; in the course of time he rakes them up and 
finds their mortality a very great one, due to many causes, ravages of crab, drill, and 
starfish, shiftings of sand or mud. Occasionally he loses his entire harvest. If by cases 
he can succeed in raising for market 80 per cent of the seed, he will in many locali- 
ties find it to his interest to invest labor and capital in this kind of culture. Each 
case costs in annual repairs less than 50 cents and should rear at least 500 grown 
oysters. Its price, which in France is about $3, should be, if anything, less with us 
on account of cheapness of wire gauze and wood. In quantity, by machine manufac- 
ture, the total might be reduced to $1.50, including tarring and labor of putting in 
position. Case culture will, moreover, render of value many tracts which are now 
useless solely on account of softness of bottom. The labor required in overlooking 
the cases should not prove a matter of great expense. 
The French have great changes in the height of tides during the month, some- 
times a difference of several fathoms. These changes either keep their cases too long 
under water to allow the proper care to be given them, or, worse still, place them too 
long out of water to suit the oyster’s living conditions. It is but natural to infer that 
the more regular degree of rise and fall of tides should be more favorable to the estab- 
lishment of both cases and collectors. 
In view of our present needs, what is the most important lesson we are to draw 
from the studies of the French oyster-culture % The most practical certainly seems 
the action of the Government in reserving oyster-bearing tracts for the purpose of 
furnishing seed. This prudent restriction has been the safeguard of the entire French 
industry. Our oyster-grounds are becoming exhausted solely by the enormous drain 
upon their resources. In general their conditions for culture are as rich as ever. The 
oysterman has sent to market practically all of his oysters and expects the beds on 
his neighbor’s ground to furnish him with seed. Too often, however, the neighbor 
has been equally thrifty and has marketed all of his product. The following year both 
are astonished at the poorness of the set, attributing it to coldness and rain, but they 
