50 • 



when the clusters have been broken up and the oysters scatterd, 

 the amount of food available for each individual becomes greatly- 

 increased. 



It has been shown by experiment that the shape of an oyster 

 is to a great extent dependent on whether or not there is room 

 for each one to grow to its normal shape, and, since the volume 

 Ci the body of an oyster depends upon its shape rather than 

 en the length of the shell, those that have grown under favorable 

 conditions will have a volume several times as great as those 

 with the same length of shell taken from crowded clusters. It 

 has also been determined that the power of acquiring the normal 

 shape when released from oppressive conditions decreases in 

 proportion to the age of the oyster, so that the increase in value 

 v/ill be greatest in young seed that has been carefully separated 

 and well scattered over the bedding ground. It is clear, there- 

 fore, that by the use of lax methods of "banking" there is a 

 m-uch smaller return for the labor expended than there would 

 be were more attention given to the selection and preparation of 

 the seed before planting. 



In most instances the areas selected to be used as bedding 

 grounds have been those where the bottom has been already 

 hardened by the presence of a natural reef. This fact in itself 

 imposes a hard and fast restriction to the amount of bottom 

 that may be leased in one place since the old reefs are usually 

 rather limited in extent, and the surrounding bottom in most 

 of the bodies of water in this region is too soft to support seed 

 oysters. In some few instances shells have been planted as a 

 means of catching spat; but, so far as I could learn, no effort 

 has been made to utilize the soft patches in the leases where 

 seed oysters are "banked." The soft spots are left barren and 

 bottom leased in some other places instead of some hardening 

 material being applied to bring these patches to a consistency 

 such that they could be utilized and a continuous bed established. 

 In many cases the oyster men complain that all of the "good" 

 bottom in a certain body of water has been taken up, and they 

 regret the necessity of having to lease small areas in widely sepa- 

 rated places, apparently giving no thought to any method of 

 utilizing the bottom not already hard enough to support seed 

 oysters. 



