33 



Besides the fact that the oystei-s on a bed are destroyed, it 

 sometiiues hui)i)ens that a great amount of sediiinMit is dei)o.sited 

 on the beds so that the shells of the oysters tliat have been kilhid 

 are either covered up by the deposit, or become so foul that they 

 no longer atford a good place for the spat to become attached 

 and thus the chance for the restocking of the bed is done away. 

 Where the destructive freshet has come from breaks in the levee, 

 the current is usually so strong that there is no deposition of 

 sediment on the shells up to the time of the closing of the break. 

 In such cases, the shells being in very good condition for the 

 reception of the spat, it has been observed that tliere was an 

 unusually heavy set; and this has often been attributed to son)e 

 unknown effect of the unusual mixture of fresh and salt water. 



The drainage canals, which have become so munerous in 

 recent years, have served to make the distribution of the rain 

 water very different from what it was formerly. The rain water, 

 instead of having to drain slowly through the sAvamps to reacfi 

 the bays, now has a ready avenue of escape through the canals 

 and reaches the coast in much larger volumes a short tim-.' 

 after each heavy rain. The effect of the increased flow of fresh 

 water can be noticed in many places where formerly productive 

 areas are now too fresh to admit of the groM'th of oysters. 



The changes in the drainage that has been attendant on the- 

 cutting oft' of the forests in some of the coast parishes have 

 entirely altered the nature of some of the enclosed bodies of 

 water so that, where there was formerly good beds of oysters 

 there are at the present time nothing but dead shells. Avhile in 

 other places where there were no oysters, reefs have started natur- 

 ally or the bottom has been utilized for planting. 



In a good many sections th? destruction of the beds by 

 freshets becomes a matter of chance and a bed may be productive 

 for a number of years without any damage from freshets, then 

 there will follow a period when it will be imp()ssil)le to grow 

 any mature oysters on the bed. In other loealities there is always 

 a good set of spat, but before these have had time to develop into 

 marketable oysters, the beds are a<jrain destroyed, or at least de- 

 pleted, so that it is no longer profitable to work them. In the 

 latter instance the beds might be utilized to grow young oysters 

 for seed : but in the absence of such an industry there is prae- 

 tic:illv notliiiiii tli;it can Ix' done with an area of this sort. 



