35 



bays oil the coast, where there are no very strong currents, except 

 those caused by tlie action of the wind, oysters are found growing 

 on shells and other lutrd bodies in every part of the bay, where 

 they may be separated from any extensive reef by a distance of 

 several miles. 



The time necessary for the recovery of a bed or reef that 

 has been destroyed by freshets will vary to some extent in dif- 

 ferent parts of the State; but as a general statement, it seems 

 safe to say that there is every reason to believe that witliin two 

 years from the time the spat become attached, the greater num- 

 ber of oysters on anj- bed will be large enough to be sold with 

 profit. Records of the known growth of oysters in Calcasieu 

 Pass ,and on planted beds in other sections, where the age of 

 the oysters oould be definitely known, have shown that an aver- 

 age length of between three and four inches may be expected 

 as the result of the first year's growth, while at the end of the 

 second year the length will be more than five inches. On one 

 planted bed, visited by the writer after the shells had been 

 down for about fourteen months, a large number of the oysters, 

 roughly estimated as one-fifth, were being saved for market, 

 while all of the others would undoubtedly reach a market size 

 -well within the limit of two years. 



DESTRUCTION OF THE NATURAL REEFS. 



Until a comparatively recent date almost the entire supply 

 of oysters was drawn from the natural reefs and such was their 

 abundance that the supply was thought to be inexhaustable. The 

 fallacy of this opinion has been demonstrated again and again, 

 and now in this State., in common with all the other oyster-pro- 

 •ducing sections of the country, the most of the natural reefs 

 have been reduced to such a state of depletion that they may be 

 considered extinct from a commercial standpoint, since they no 

 longer produce enough oysters to make it profitable for one to 

 work them. 



In many cases this result has been brought about so gradually 

 that there has been a great deal of question as to the causes of 

 the failure of the supply. In other instances the destruction 

 has taken place so recently ,and so rapidly, that there can ho no 



