17 



Two extensive beds, made up .iliiiost entirely of youn<r 

 oysters three to four inches long, jnc situated two and one-iialf 

 miles oilt' shore, about live miles east of Chenier LaCroix. Taken 

 together, these cover an area of about four square miles. Tlu' 

 depth of the water of these reefs varies from two to Hirer and 

 one-half feet. The clustiM-s on thes(> reefs consist of fr(»iii four 

 to six young oysters attaclicd to an oldei' shell. All of the 

 oysters more than tw(^ years old were dead froin some cause or 

 other. Because of the shallowness of the water over these reefs 

 they have not been woi-ked to any extent, since all of the 

 schooners Avorking in this region are of too deeji draft to pass 

 over the reef except at full tide, and tlie size of tlie oysters is 

 not such as to attract the tongmen.^l^i'se oyslei-s are growing 

 very rapidly, and unless llie clusteiSAfi bi'oken up soon, they will 

 become elongated and pooi- like those on all of the densely 

 crowded reefs. 



Farther to the eastward, along the shore of ^M'arsh Tslan-I 

 and between the high reefs of coon oystei-s, there arc reefs of 

 limited extent, where especially fine oystei-s are foiuid. These 

 reefs are kept cleaned up by the men fishing for the i-aw houses 

 at Morgan City, and at the time of a visit to these n'ofa in De- 

 cember the men working in that vicinity said that tluM-e were 

 only a very few oysters to be secured in any one place in the 

 region. 



Oystkk Pr.AXTiXG IX Verivuliox AXi) Thkkia Pauisiihs. 



lentil a very recent date no attempt at i)ianling oysters on 

 a commei-cial scale was made in this i-egion. The fishermen have 

 been accustomed to bed their catch fi-om day to day, awaiting 

 the completion of theii- hiad. These temjxu'ary bedding grounds 

 were usually on oi- neai- smne i-eef, as that afforded the hai'dcst, 

 cleanest bottom to be found. The oysters wei-e dei)osited in a 

 layer of a foot or more in thickness to facilitate tak-ing them nj) 

 when they were to be marketed, the bedding grounds being 

 marked off by stakes. In some instances oysters taken from the 

 very important reefs in ITell ITole and Lake Fearman that were 

 especially of good siz(> and condition, but on acconnt of the low 

 salinity of the water in which they grew, of poor llavor, were 

 put down for a day or two in the more salt water of the pass 



