49 



private bedding grounds ; although, even in this case, the greater 

 number come primarily from the natui-al reefs, since the prac- 

 tice of planting clutch has been adopted in so few instances. 



In 1898 there was but thirty-two leased areas in this parish, 

 which, under the laws then in force, could include a maximum 

 area of only 320 acres. At the present time there are leases 

 in this parish which all together make up an area of 8,455.65 

 acres. By far the greater number of the leases are of less than 

 ten acres in extent, while leases of over one hundi-jd acres are of 

 rare occurrence and have all been taken up within the past two 

 or three years. 



In most cases the oysters on the leased bottoms are thost; 

 that have been taken from the natural reefs and transplanted 

 to some other locality where the conditions for their growth were 

 more favorable. Some times much care is exercised in the prepa- 

 ration of the seed, but more often there is a good deal of laxity 

 in the manner in which it is handled. In the first place scant 

 attention is payed to fulling when the oyster men are taking seed : 

 everything brought up, including the smallest oysters and some- 

 times empty shells, is dumped into the boats without any attempt 

 to break up and sort the clusters. When these oysters are put 

 down on the bedding ground, unless it is exceptionally hard 

 over all the surface, many of the oysters in the larger clusters 

 will be forced into the mud where they will surely be suffocated. 

 The greater weight of the living oysters at the upper end of the 

 cluster will cause that end to reach the bottom first so that 

 the useless empty shells will be kept above the mud, while some 

 of the living oysters become the support for the whole colony. 

 Besides the consideration of the oysters actually lost by being 

 covered up in the mud, the laxity in planting operations of this 

 nature directly defeats the most important ends that are to be 

 gained by the transplanting of the oysters. The poor sn?.pe 

 and condition of the oysters on the natural reefs, especially 

 when the reefs are surrounded by a muddy bottom, is usually 

 due to the crowding among the individuals of each cluster and 

 not to any fault in the physical or biological conditions in the 

 body of water in wliich the reef occurs. The amount of oyster 

 food in the water in which the oysters are to be "banked" maj'- 

 be no greater than in the water from which thev were taken ; but 



