10 



grow within a few hundred yards of one another is a very in- 

 structive fact and shows how, local some of the influences are 

 which determine their market values. 



PHYSICAL CONDITIONS. 



CONDITIONS IN CALCASIEU PASS. 



One of the physical factors of great importance from the point 

 of view of the oyster grower is the character of the bottom. The 

 bed of the Calcasieu River is composed of softj.blackjiiud. Along 

 the banks of the river at low tide this mud is a menaceHio horses 

 and cattle, which not infrequently become helplessly bogged. 

 During the period when my observations were made, the water in 

 the river was never clear, and after heavy rains or heavy blows it 

 was often dark brown with flocculent suspended matter. The 

 mud is probably never washed about in sufficient quantities to 

 suffocate many of the oysters which happen to be living in the 

 pass, but its constant presence has a deleterious effect on their 

 flavor. How serious a matter it is, may be gathered from the 

 great deposits of silt and loam which are formed on both sides of 

 the east jetty since this was built m 1897. In the intervening 

 period of six years about a quarter of a mile of land, now cov- 

 ered with grass and shrubbery, has formed to the west of this 

 jetty, and almost half a mile, still barren where it is washed by the 

 Gulf during high tides and winds, has grown southward on the 

 east side. 



Though the character of the bottom is very good on the two 

 sand bars near the mouth of the pass, and is capable of artificial 

 hardening where it is at its worst, a similar control cannot be 

 exercised in the case of the water over these places. During the 

 summer the conditions of salinity are very favorable. With Cal- 

 casieu Lake and the Gulf to furnish fresh and salty water from 

 the head and mouth of the pass respectively, an almost ideal con- 

 dition obtains. Unfortunately this condition is subject to unfa- 

 vorable fluctuations which may be expected to have serious con- 

 sequences every spring when ''high water" in the river is the rule. 



During such times of high water the salinity in the pass falls, 

 and last April it was zero in the river as well as in the Gulf 

 near by. Freshets occur every spring, and in spite of the fact 

 that the oyster is a brackish-water animal, endowed with a won- 

 derful amount of adaptability to adverse circumstances, it is not 



