59 



were takcu up first, so that at the present time there are few 

 hard areas not under lease. In the light of these facts it is very 

 evident that the expansion of the oyster industry must, in a 

 great measure, depend upon the utilization of bottom not at 

 present in a condition to receive seed oysters. In discussing the 

 means of utilizing these bottoms, two conditions which require 

 different treatments present themselves, namely, the utilization 

 of soft places in leases, and the utilization of large areas of soft 

 bottom. 



In the first case, the leaving barren of more or less extensive 

 patches in a lease causes an unnecessary outlay in the rental of 

 the area in which it is included, and very frequently maijes 

 necessary the leasing of other bottom, sometimes of necessity 

 several miles removed. Fortunately the materials necessary for 

 reclaiming these areas are readily available near the sections 

 where oyster cultui-o is carried on. While the oyster shells from 

 the canneries might be used to bring the bottom to a firmness 

 such that it would support the seed, they would also serve for the 

 attachment of spat so that this portion of the bed would be 

 stocked with young and the working of the marketable stock in- 

 terfered with, while a good surface for the banking of seed would 

 not result. On the other hand there are, along the islands mak- 

 ing up the outer side of the marshy area in the western part of 

 the parish, as well as on some of those in Cat Island Lake, im- 

 mense banks of fragments of oyster shells and the shells of one 

 of the small snails {Littorina irrorata, Say). This would make 

 an excellent hardening material, and on account of the small 

 size of the fragments, they would remain above the mud to be- 

 come covered with young oysters. On the islands separating 

 Lake Pelto and Cat Island Lake from the Gulf, there is a practic- 

 ally unlimited supply of sand, and this material has. in the hands 

 of the northern oyster planters, proven to be one of the best 

 materials for the hardening of soft bottom for the reception of 

 seed oysters. 



If the area of soft bottom is large, as when the lease is to 

 be taken up in a body of water where the bottom is everywhere 

 soft, the method just mentioned is not to be recommended, unless 

 the location offers special advantages for the finishing of mature 

 oysters. The most practical method of procedure, by the use of 



