24 GROWTH OF PLANTS 



mitted by the Boyce Thompson Institute and filed mth the River and Har- 

 bor Board under date of February 23, 1929. This report describes present 

 conditions existing in Currituck Sound and particularly refers to the effect 

 of the contamination of these waters by sewage passing through the Albe- 

 marle and Chesapeake Canal into them. This report, in my opinion, is a 

 very convincing report as to the detrimental effects caused in Currituck 

 Sound and Back Bay by the removal of the lock. It will be noted that this 

 report was filed in February 1929, while the report of the District Engineer 

 was dated October 11, 1927, the report of the Division Engineer was dated 

 October 20, 1927, and the report of the Board of Engineers for Rivers and 

 Harbors was dated April 3, 1928. The pollution of the waters of Currituck 

 Sound by sewage coming from Norfolk Harbor was discussed by representa- 

 tives of the Boyce Thompson Institute at the hearing held by the Board of 

 Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, December 14, 1927, but the statements 

 made at that hearing as shown by the record are much less impressive than 

 the carefully prepared paper which was filed after the Board made its report 

 and which was based on studies which were continued after the date of the 

 hearing as well as what had been learned before that date. 



"An examination of the Boyce Thompson report shows conclusively that 

 the sewage which is brought through the canal from Norfolk Harbor into 

 Currituck Sound is in itself sufficient to cause destruction of the duck food 

 plants. Whatever difference of opinion there may be as to the possibility 

 of salt water coming into Currituck Sound in other ways than through the 

 canal there can be no difference of opinion as to the sewage, for that can 

 only come from Norfolk Harbor through the canal." 



He also says ^' p-'^: "I can come to no conclusion except that the removal 

 of the lock has been the principal cause of the destruction of the duck food 

 plants in Back Bay and Currituck Sound and that it has been detrimental 

 to navigation and to the fishing industry. The history of the Albemarle and 

 Chesapeake Canal shows that the injury to the hunting and fishing interests 

 of Currituck Sound and Back Bay caused by the infiltration of contami- 

 nated waters into these waters has been progressive. Every year that the 

 contaminated water from Norfolk Harbor is allowed to freely flow south 

 the damage is increased and the longer the construction of a new lock is 

 postponed the greater the damage will be." 



Mr. Bourn and members of the Institute feared that it would take years 

 after the locks were replaced for the natural restoration of the plants in these 

 waters if the process was not accelerated by artificial planting. These fears 

 were based on two facts. (1) There were relatively few seeds, bulbs, and 

 tubers left in the soil of the water bed as a source of new plants. (2) The 

 bottom-cover of Chara and Nitella had largely disappeared, and with it the 

 best preventive against turbidity. 



The following quotations from Bourn in the report referred to by General 

 Taylor^' p-^ summarize the conclusions reached by the Institute on the 

 basis of this research : 



