There are certain speculations—speculations in which self - restraint is is
everything and undue eagerness for returns is fatal,— wherein Governments certainly succeed very much better than private individuals. The Oyster-culture seems to be one of them, and apparently France is likely to make a great success in a line in which she has hitherto made great fiascos, owing simply to the example of the Government, to the elaborate direc- tions which the Government has given to the various Oyster Companies, and to the docility with which these Companies, after their failures, have now adhered to the regulations which the Government has laid down. By following these rules, the natural beds of oysters on the coasts of France have not only been preserved from. destruction, but enriched by the new arti- ficial beds beyond belief. "Beds which were considered exhausted in 1870 in the Arcachon district yielded during the few hours of last November during which they were allowed to be dredged or fished, the incredible number of 40,361,000 oysters of marketable size." Clearly, for certain productive enterprises, the trading spirit wants a curb such as it is difficult to find in anything but the official equanimity of disinterested knowledge.
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