Show FRENCH OYSTERS How Eow How the Bivalves Are Axe Cultivated In Europe Consul Albion W Tourgee in a re recent recent recent cent report rt tb lo the state department speaks as an follows in regard to oyster culture in France Oysters are arc a luxury in lit Europe The natural beds have be been i exhausted as se sethe the American AmeriL beds are rapidly becom becoming becoming m ing and artificial culture has long been depended upon for a supply of this lus bivalve The chief breeding ground in France is 19 the Bassin dArca d chon a triangular tidal bay about nine j jmiles miles on each side entirely landlocked and opening out of the Golfe Jfe de do Gas Gascoigne Gascoigne coigne coign tE o Fisan into int the trio mew meaL of Gironde by a Ii narrow channel about three miles ire in length The coast coat coatIs is sandy and deserted A solid forest of maritime pines hand planted during the present century has checked the inland march of the sand dunes and protects the th basin from the i southwest winds which blow fifty cut rut of the weeks of each yew The shallow bay is networked with navigable channels between which at et atlow low tide rise the half clay day half sand sana san flats ats utilized ed for breeding the th succulent succulent succulent lent mollusk During the low spring tides the fiats flats are PIe covered with quantities quantities ties of a cheap variety of or ordinary roof roofing 1 I ing lag tile which has bas been previously coated with ith a sort of coarse white whitewash whitewash whitewash wash The spawn brought in by high highwater highwater hIghwater water catches on these tiles lad and nd the limb H of the whitewash helps the little mollusk to form his first shell Toward winter these tile are taken up and carefully scraped The oysters ster as large now as ones thumb nail are spread in hat fiat covered trays or baskets of close closely ly 1 woven woven osier osler to protect them from the h crabs and other enemies and moved nearer the salt marshes on the east side of the basin to grow When they have become a little alCUS tented tomed to toan an independent inde existence lene they are placed in trenches a It little below water level which are provided with sluice gates by which they th y can be flooded at will They The are thus prevented from being chilled in winter or dried up in summer and are easily protected the gates being covered with wire netting of fine mesh but the primary primar aim of the gates is to accustom them to being de deprived deprived pried of water that is to teach them to keep their valves tightly closed when out of It In about eighteen months their heir education in this respect is com corn complete and they are raked up and sent on a journey journ of several days to the copper rocks at a Marennes France and to Whitstable England to fatten and assume the bilious green tint and brassy bra Y flavor demanded by European epicures About are shipped annually The work on the beds s a done by barefooted men and women both clad in bright crimson knee breeches and sweaters which ren ron render render der tier the sexes quite undistinguishable un The regular trenches and dikes kept in place with interlaced with wat wattles wattles ties look like Jike a Dutch garden To one accustomed alc tomed to the plump clean white and gray American bi hi bivalve bivalve valve the flabby ye yeU or greenish European specimen is In not inviting The shells are flat thin irregular and as slimy and corrugated as an old bar barnacle barnacle barnacle nacle while the inmates are about the size and thickness of a n piece for a shell On the spot they Uley sell for from 7 cents to 10 cents a dozen Elsewhere they command more and the greener the higher prices Oysters O are never eaten here except on the half shell A suggestion to put them into soup or patties to scallop or stew them shocks a French chef as a proposition to broil watermelon would a Carolina cook I think a Span pan roast would be regarded here as little less lean I Ithan than sacrilege Even Een when by much persistence you have havO achieved some form of cooked oyster the chances g are infinite that the most ible result will be a fit of homesickness caused by byr regretful r memories of the delicious Blue Points or succulent Lynn Lyna Ha Haven Haven Havon ven von Bays so It is to be hoped that our ourI oyster men will learn and practice the theart t tart theart art of propagating and nourishing the I oyster ster so as to preserve both its Us su superior superior superior size and flavor o |