BIOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY 153 



ties of oysters for family use rather than for commercial purposes. There 

 were, between 1872 and 1898, a total of 1,200 grants for the purpose of 

 oyster culture in Carteret, Dare, Hyde, and Pamlico counties. There were 

 828 grants in Carteret County with an average of nine acres each. Winslow 

 (1886) reports that following the passage of laws in 1883 there was a great 

 interest in taking up bottom for oyster culture. This interest died down 

 until 1889 when, following the completion of Winslow's survey, more area 

 was taken up than ever before. Winslow (1889) attributes this in part to 

 the interest he stimulated through lectures given on oyster culture in the 

 coastal region. Grave (1904) says that the completion of the railroad line 

 from Jacksonville to Wilmington in 1890 was responsible for the renewed 

 interest in leasing of bottom in Carteret County. In 1896 there was another 

 revival of interest in taking up of grounds in Carteret County as a result of 

 some successful plantings made in North River and Jarrett's Bay in 1891. 

 It was believed that a good proportion of the bottom that was taken up was 

 for speculative purposes and that of the number of grounds taken up few 

 were ever used. The interest soon waned and Grave states that in 1899 there 

 was not a single bed anywhere in North Carolina that he was able to deter- 

 mine "which was being cultivated or which was yielding or had yielded its 

 owner an income in anyway commensurate with the labor and expense put 

 upon it." 



Oyster culture as a private enterprise has not progressed much in North 

 Carolina since 1900. A number of grants made during this period are still 

 being held, and a few of these are providing a source of income. The number 

 of grants or privately leased areas is probably far less than the 1,200 grants 

 that existed from 1872 to 1898. According to Mr. N. Webb, clerk, as of 

 June 30, 1948, there were 264 leased areas with a total of 3,232 acres under 

 the jurisdiction of the Division of Commercial Fisheries. There are in addi- 

 tion a number of old grants. Since the records of these are available only 

 from county courthouse records the total number has not been ascertained. 

 Except for a relatively few grounds under lease, the majority are being used 

 primarily for the same purpose as fifty years ago, merely to keep a small 

 amount of oysters to supply the family needs. There has been a renewed 

 interest in the past six months (July, 1948, to January, 1949), in leasing 

 small portions of bottom for oyster culture. 



It would seem, as Grave expressed it in 1904, that oyster cultivation had 

 been given a fair trial, had proved a failure and was a thing of the past, so 

 far as North Carolina was concerned. The failure was more apparent than 

 real in most cases and Grave sums up the causes for the failure as : 



"i. Those individuals engaged or who have engaged in it, have, as a 

 rule, had erroneous ideas as to the requirements for successful oyster 

 culture 



