Science, Art, And The Drama.

Science , Art , and the Drama .

OYSTER CULTURE IN FRAN . CE .

Artificial culture has for some time been largely depended upon in P ., roDe and America , for a supply of oysters . The chief breeding ground v . France is the Bassin d'Arcachon , a triangular tidal bay , about nine miles on each side , entirely land-locked and opening out of the B \ y of Risrav into the Department of the Gironde , by a narrow channel about ^ . ree miles in length . The coast is sandy and deserted . A solid forest of ines planted during the present century , has checked the inland march of soutn winaswnicn

fhe ' ntl dunes , and protects the basin trom tne -wesr . , hlow fifty out of the fifty-two weeks of the year . According to the United States Consul at Bordeaux , the shallow bay is worked with navigable rliannels , between which at low tide rise the half clay , half sand flats , utilised for breeding the mollusc . During the low spring tides , the flats are covered with quantities of a cheap variety of ordinary roofing tile , which has been previously coated with a sort of coarse whitewash . The rnnwn brought in by high-water , catches on these tiles , and the lime of the

whitewash helps the little mollusc to form his lirst shell , towards winter these tiles are taken up and carefully scraped . The oysters , as large now as one ' s thumb nail , are spread in flat covered trays or baskets of closely woven osier , to protect them from the starfish , 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 accustomed to an independent existence , ihpv are placed in trenches a little below water level , which are

provided with sluice gates , by which they can be -flooded at will . They are thus prevented from being chilled in winter , or dried up in summer , and are easily protected from enemies , the gates being covered with wire netting of fine mesh , but the primary object of the gates is to accustom them to being deprived of water , that is , teach them to keep their valves tightly closed when out of it . In about 18 months , their education laced in barrelsand

in that respect is complete , and they are raked up , p , sent on a journey of several days to Marennes , and other places , to fatten and assume the green tint and delicate flavour demanded by European epicures . About 250 , 000 , 000 are shipped annually . The work on the beds is done by barefooted men and women , both clad in bright crimson knee breeches and vests , which render the sexes quite undistinguishable . The regular trenches and dykes , kept in place with spikes interlaced with wattles , look like a Dutch garden .

THE WORLD'S GOLD PRODUCTION . Notwithstanding the stoppage of gold supplies from South Africa , in the closing months cf last year , the Economist reports that there was a considerable increase in the output of the precious metal . No complete details are available , but several of the large producers obtained augmented quantities of gold during the 12 months . In the United States , for example , according to the estimate of the Engineering and Mining Journal ol New York , the production of gold in 1899 amounted to nearly £ 14 , 500 , 000 ,

showing an increase of close upon £ 1 , 500 , 000 . prom Canada , the increase is estimated at £ S 7 o , oco ; from Australasia , the expansion in the output amounted to about £ 3 , 250 , 003 ; and from India to about £ 100 , 000 . On the other hand , the available supplies from South Africa were reduced to the extent of about £ 1 , 500 , 000 , so that , on balance , there would appear to have been from these five among the leading producers , 000 There smaller increase

an increase of something like £ 4 , ,. were s from some other directions , and allowing , roughly , £ 1 , 000 , 000 for these , we arrive at a total expansion of about £ 5 203 , 000 for the year . According to the final estimate of the director of the United States Mint , the world's production of gold in 1898 amounted to £ 57 , 500 , 000 , and if the increase just mentioned is added , we have an aggregate of £ 62 , 700 , 000 for last year , which compares with previous estimates of the same authority , as follows :

1899 £ 62 , 700 , 000 1894 £ 36 , 200 , 000 1898 57 , 500 , 000 1893 31 , 500 , 000 1897 47 , , 000 1892 29 , 300 , 000 1896 40 , 600 , 000 1891 26 , 100 , 000 1895 39 900 , 000 1890 23 , 800 , 000

In six years , therefore , the production of gold has rather more than doubled , while as compared with the first year of the decade , the increase has exceeded 160 per cent . The present outlock is , of course , a good deal clouded by the uncertainty of the war in South Africa , but apart from that , there is ivery reason to assume that production will continue to expand at a rapid rate .

OUR EARLY ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE . It is unlucky for the world that our earliest ancestors were not aware of the curiosity which would inspire their descendants , of knowing minutely evirything relating to them . When they placed three or four branches of trees across the trunks of others and covered them with boughs or straw to keep out the weather , the good people were not informed that they were discovering architecture , and that it would be learnedly agitated some thousand of years afterwards who

was the inventor of this useful science . In complaisance to our inquiries they would undoubtedly have transmitted an account of the first hovel that was ever built , and from that patriarch hut we should possess a faithful geneaology of all hs descencants ; yet such a curiosity would annihilate fables , lesearches , conjectures , and blunders , so common to hurranity in general . Necessity and a little common sense produced all the ordinary arts , which the plain fulks who practised them were

Science, Art, And The Drama.

not idle enough to record . Their inventions were obvious , their productions useful , but clumsy . Yet the little merit there was in fabricating them being soon consigned to oblivion , we are bountiful enough to suppose that there was design and system in all they did , and then take infinite pains to digest and methodise these imaginary rudiments . No sooner is any era of an invention suggested , but different nations begin to assert an

exclusive title to it , and the only point in which any countries agree is , " perhaps , in ascribing the discovery to some other nation , remote enough in time for neither of them to know anything of it . Whoever has thrown away his time on the first chapters of general histories , or of histories of an , must be sensible that this reflection is but too well grounded . Several curious persons have taken great pains to enlighten the obscure ages of our

English architecture j they find no names of architects ; nay , little more than what they might have known without enquiring—that our ancestors had buildings . Indeed , Tom Hearn , Brown , Wallis , and such illustrators , did sotietimes go upon more positive ground ; they did now and then stumble upon an arch , a tower , nay , a whole church , so dark , so ugly , so . uncouth ,

that they were sure it couta not have been built since any idea of grace had been transported into the island . It was difficult to ascertain ths period when one ungracious form jostled out another , and this perplexity at last led them into such refinement , that the term Gothic Architecture , inflicted as a reproach on our ancient buildings in general , is now considered but as a species of modern elegance . ( To be continued . )

Criterion Theatre.

CRITERION THEATRE .

At the above theatre'has been revived the farcical romance entitled " His Excellency the Governor . " Its author is Mr . R . Marshall , who is well known in the theatrical world as having contributed much to the amusement of playgoers by the interesting pieces he has written . "His Excellency the Governor" first appeared some time ago at the " Royal Court Theatre , " where it achieved such a success as to justify its present

revival at the Criterion . Two or three of the characters are represented by their original interpreters . "His Excellency" is taken by Mr . Arthur Bourchier , who invests the part with an interest which it would certainly fail to receive if it were in less competent hands . He is well supported by Mr . Marsh Allen as Captain Carew , and Mr . Dion Boucicault as Mr . John Baverstock , Private Secretary to the Governor . M r . Eric Lewis represents

the Right Hon . Henry Carlton , M . P ., the Colonial Secretary , on a visit to the Amandaland Island to recruit his health . The adventuress , Stella de Gex , who is so essential to the development of the story , lias been entrusted to Miss Ellis Jeffreys , who by her great artistic talent succeeds in ireridering full justice to the character . The young American actress , Miss

Gertrude Elliott , shows by the charming unaffected way in which she plays the heroine how interesting she can be made . The comedietta , " A Pair of Knickerbockers , " precedes the principal piece , and Mr . Aubrey Fitzgerald and Miss Lilian Manelly hold up to well deserved ridicule the principles and teachings of the " New Woman " craze . A very pleasant evening may be spent wiih the fare now submitted by the Criterion Theatre . „ . ..... ;

General Notes.

GENERAL NOTES .

The wax wing , so named because of the curious ( Uttened red tips to some of the shafts of its wing , is not an indigenous British bird , but one that only pays us an occasional winter visit . Consequently it is not very well known in this country . It is a very handsome bird , with a plumage of cinnamon brown above , passing into grey towards the tail . Some of' the wing feathers are blacfc-tipped , with white and with yellow fringes . ¦ The tail is grey , and the older birds sometimes possess wax-tips to one or two of

the feathers , like those of the wing . The front part of the face and throat are black , and the headj , with full crest upon it , chestnut brown . In length it measures about 7 . V inches from beak to tip of tail . The home of the waxwing is in the Arctic regions , but it comes south in the autumn and . winter months , and is met with , sometimes in considerable numbers , in many parts

of Europe and Asia . Although a well-known bird to ornithologists since very early times , all attempts to find its nest were fruitless until 1 S 36 , w (* en the bird was found to be breeding in Lipland by Mr . G . D . Rowley , who secured some of its eggs for his famous collection . The chief food of tha

waxwing consists of insects in the summer months , but in the winter it gorges itself with berries and becomes so fat that it form ; quite a irnrketab'fe commodity in several of the European towns . It is a very silent bird , arid does not make a good cage pet , on account of its habit of stuffing itself'With food and becoming lazy and dirty .

It's curious that not one of the many hundreds of war songs ' , issued dur ing the present war , has seized the public ear . " The Absent-Minded Beggar" is , of course , a charity ditty—not a patriotic ballad . VV . ien ' our

gallant siilors from Ladysmith march through London , there will be only tre old tunes that were popular before they went to fi ^ ht so gillantly , and the slurdy British tars will probably be welcomed with the refrain of " Soldiers of the Queen , " " The British Grenadiers , " and similar martial

. * * * » Some of the engagements for the Birmingham Festival are still pending , but the principal vocalists have now been secured . Mr . Lloyd willat

, Birmingham , take his farewell of the English musical festivals , with which he has been so closely associated for so many years . The other artist ' sfpr the festival include Madame Albani , Miss Clara Butt , Miss Ada Crossley , Mr . Ben D . avies , and Mr . Andrew Black . ; -

Ad00504

1 . AMONG THE LEADING BRANDS OF $ n . kl fiTTATWia A ftWR jm § ' " " ) Blankenhorns SPORTSMAN ^ T ^^? J II ENJOYS A REPUTATION OF A QTJARTER-OF-A-CENTURY . I ^ ^* r J London Offices-18 , CULLUM STREET LONDON , E . G