188 Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners 



and must divide the supply of food which should be available 

 for one. By frequently dragging a heavy dredge, from which 

 the bag has been removed, over bunchy oysters the bunches may 

 ,be broken up and the oysters may thus be kept single, but 

 the same result is more easily accomplished and at less expense 

 by transplanting young seed oysters from seed grounds to 

 grounds where conditions are not favorable for securing spat, 

 but where seed oysters when planted are soon covered with a 

 thin layer of sediment which excludes such oyster fry as might 

 settle upon the oysters. Such a covering of sediment upon 

 growing oysters, if not too thick, is of no disadvantage since 

 it in no way interferes with feeding. 



The belief that swift currents are necessary to the rapid 

 growth of oysters is not well founded for although the amount 

 of food available to an oyster depends upon the amount of 

 water which flows by its mouth, the water of the Chesapeake 

 and its tributaries is, in most localities, so rich in oyster food 

 that a very small quantity (less than a quart), contains all the 

 food needed per day by an oyster. The most sluggish currents 

 are sufficient to provide this quantity of water for each oyster 

 on a bar. 



In support of this statement one need only be reminded that 

 the water flows very slowly over some of the best natural oyster 

 bars in the State. In selecting grounds for growing oysters, 

 therefore, swift currents should be avoided. They should not be 

 especially elevated above surrounding bottoms and should, if 

 possible, be located in the immediate vicinity of mud flats, for 

 these constitute rich food-producing centers. Grounds offering 

 these conditions are usually found on the in-shore areas of 

 rivers and the Bay. Most of the lots leased under the five-acre 

 law are well adapted to growing oysters. 



Fattening Matured Oysters. 



It very often happens that oysters do not become fat on their 

 native bottoms at the time they should be marketed and on 

 some good growing ground oysters seldom or never fatten. The 

 lessees of such bottoms should have ground especially adapted 



