12 
are necessary before tlie claire is tliorougbly prepared for the reception of its stock. When placed in 
these greening claires they are usually from twelve to sixteen mouths old, and they must he left for a 
period of two years at least before they can be properly greened, and if left a year longer they are all the 
better. Dr. Kemmerer says : “ The green oy.ster has only been regarded as a luxury for the table of the 
rich, but I would like to see it used as food by every one.” 
17. In this Colony we have salt water swamps, marshes, mudbanks (or crassets, as they are 
called), more or less covered by the tides, whore claires for the fattening of oysters (and probably 
also the greening of them if required) could bo carried on to a very considerable extent. We 
have the same kind of rich mud as that in the estuary of the Thames, which is so celebrated for 
fattening oysters. Professor Watt has analysed some of the mud out of one of the bays of the George’s 
Hirer, and found it to be similar to the London clay, of which the Portland cement is made. There 
is nothing more unsightly than a salt water marsh, and it is probably as unhealthy to the neighbourhood 
as it is unsightly. Not a blade of grass grows thereon, or indeed anything which is useful for either 
man or beast. But these marshes may by means of claires become more highly productive than any 
high dry [land however rich. They are capable of fattening oysters and growuig grass or vegetables in 
perfection. 
IS. In cutting the claires it is not necessary that they should be of any particular shape or size, 
and it would be absui*d to imitate the Prench in the claires, which were originally excavated for salterns. 
We learn from some of the witnesses, who gave evidence before a Select Committee of the House of 
Commons, that oysters grow and fatten the best in creeks and shallow water. Mr. Pennell says:—A 
fattening ground is usually a small creek with muddy banks, and the bed is made in the middle with 
shells, upon which the oysters are laid. 
19. We think it right to mention, for tlie information of those who may contemplate making 
claires for the growth and fattening of oysters, that the experience of Mr. Holt (the Chairman of this 
Commission) is decidedly against the damming of them. Mr. Holt has constructed claires of more 
than 30 miles in total length, and he spared no expense in making flood-gates and dams, according to 
the most approved systems he had seen in France, but he has since had reason to believe that it was a 
mistake, and he has done away with them entirely, and let the claires have the full benefit of the ebb and 
flow of the tides, which has caused a very considerable saving in the expense of management, and a vast 
improvement in the oysters. 
20. The green oysters produced in the stagnant claires, may, like the huge goose livers produced 
by keeping geese before hot fires for the pate tie foie gras, be appreciated by the French gourmands; 
but it is a question whether oysters and geese fattened by natural means are not the most wliole- 
some. Monsieur Tandon, in his “ Le Monde de la Mer” (World of the Sea), says:—“Oysters” (in 
Prance) “ arc put in claires—long canal-like excavations—filled with green, stagnant saltwater. The 
green matter, ■which makes the water all but offensive, penetrates the system of the poor Molusks 
compelled to inhale it. Tlie oyster under this regime fattens, and soon obtains that obesitj^ so relished by 
tlie connoisseur, hut wliich is really the result of disease induced by the unwholesome water of the claire. 
Imagine the unspeakable disgust of the oyster after living in the beautifully clear and fresh water of 
the ocean, at being immured in a stagnant pool, whose water is seldom changed but always charged witli 
filth!” The oyster claires, with the full flow of tides, resemble in many rospocts the English 
fattening creeks, with the sole exception that the former are probably more artificial than the latter. 
In this latitude there is no fear of the young oystci's being killed by the frost by being left diy at low 
tides; on tbc contrary, there is reason to believe tliat they are benefited by the change; and at Arcachou, 
one of the most extensive and prosperous oyster fisheries iu France, the oysters are always left dry at 
low tides. Mr. Buckland, in evidence he gave before the said Select Committee of the House of Com¬ 
mons (187G) said: Oysters have sometimes a very rotten appearance about the shell, like a very old wine 
cork. This is caused by a sponge called clione, which gets into the oyster shell and completely riddles it. 
and makes it quite fragile to the finger. By exposing the oysters to the rays of the sun the clione is 
killed, and it will not live again. 
21. The enemies of the oyster, such as the five-fingers, &e., can be seen when walking on the 
banks, and forked out with the greatest ease ; and the oysters when ready for market can he 
gathered out of the claires as easily as potatoes arc dug up in a garden, and at as little expense. 
Bertram tells us in England the dredgermen on the Colne Eiver Fishery are never paid less than 
12s. and sometimes 40s. a bushel for dredging the oysters. What a contrast there is between the cost of 
gathering oysters out of the shallow claires in this Colony and dredging for them in the deep waters of 
England. 
