THE SHELLFISH INDUSTRY
297
survived the attacks of their numerous euemies, sink to
the bottom.
Even there their troubles are not at an end,
for they can only attach themselves to clean hard objects
such as stones and shells ; if the bottom is of sand or mud
_
or if the stones are slimy with weed the oysters must die.
Should the right conditions be found, the oyster xes itself
with a kind of cement, left side undermost, on to the rst
hard surface
with which it comes in contact.
It now
quickly changes its appearance and both shell and the
contained body grow rapidly, so that soon, although less
than one—eighth of an inch in diameter, it has all the organs
of the
oyster in miniature.
It is now merely a
question of time, abundance of food, _,‘and immunity irom
predatory fees such as starsh and crabs, before the oyster
becomes fully grown.
.
,
«
The discovery that oyster spat would settle upon articial
collectors like brushwood immediately red the imagination of Costé.
He foresaw that, not only would it be
possible to restock the depl‘eted beds, but, by collecting
spat wholesale, to cultivate oysters on an immense scale.
The Emperor Napoleon III became interested in the schemes
and two Imperial oyster parks were established; in the
_
shallow
Bay of Arcachon, south of Bordeaux.
The
experiment was a brilliant success ;
oysters had
been imported and from these, immense numbers of spat
Were obtained on a new type of collector «consisting of
planks covered with pitch or resin, the latter, with the
attached spat, being subsequently broken away from the
_
woodwork.
Later years, however, were not so successful
and many of the oÿSter cultivators lost heart and abandoned
'
their
A great step
forward was made— by an
‘unknovm seaman who
using half—round roong
collectors and these proved to_‘be ideal for the purpose
but eXpensive as they had…tq be broken up in order to
297
survived the attacks of their numerous euemies, sink to
the bottom.
Even there their troubles are not at an end,
for they can only attach themselves to clean hard objects
such as stones and shells ; if the bottom is of sand or mud
_
or if the stones are slimy with weed the oysters must die.
Should the right conditions be found, the oyster xes itself
with a kind of cement, left side undermost, on to the rst
hard surface
with which it comes in contact.
It now
quickly changes its appearance and both shell and the
contained body grow rapidly, so that soon, although less
than one—eighth of an inch in diameter, it has all the organs
of the
oyster in miniature.
It is now merely a
question of time, abundance of food, _,‘and immunity irom
predatory fees such as starsh and crabs, before the oyster
becomes fully grown.
.
,
«
The discovery that oyster spat would settle upon articial
collectors like brushwood immediately red the imagination of Costé.
He foresaw that, not only would it be
possible to restock the depl‘eted beds, but, by collecting
spat wholesale, to cultivate oysters on an immense scale.
The Emperor Napoleon III became interested in the schemes
and two Imperial oyster parks were established; in the
_
shallow
Bay of Arcachon, south of Bordeaux.
The
experiment was a brilliant success ;
oysters had
been imported and from these, immense numbers of spat
Were obtained on a new type of collector «consisting of
planks covered with pitch or resin, the latter, with the
attached spat, being subsequently broken away from the
_
woodwork.
Later years, however, were not so successful
and many of the oÿSter cultivators lost heart and abandoned
'
their
A great step
forward was made— by an
‘unknovm seaman who
using half—round roong
collectors and these proved to_‘be ideal for the purpose
but eXpensive as they had…tq be broken up in order to