16 OYSTER CULTUEE EXPERIMENTS IN LOUISIANA. 



the time and effort necessary could be expended to better advantage 

 elsewhere. The answer to this objection was obvious, as the purpose 

 of the work was to develop an industry where none existed, and not 

 merely to supplement what had been already begun. The vindica- 

 tion of the selection was apparent before the experiments were a 

 3^ear old, and the commercial response to the experimental results 

 was immediate. 



Prior to the beginning of the experiments there had been issued 

 in Jefferson Parish, which includes the waters under discussion, 7 

 leases, aggregating 75 acres, and of these 4 had lapsed. From the 

 time the early results of the experiments first became known until 

 April, 1908, there were issued 138 leases, covering 710 acres, yielding 

 to the state an immediate annual income of $1 per acre, and the 

 leases immediately surrounding the small experimental plant at 

 Bayou St. Denis so hemmed it in that it was necessary to go on 

 private bottoms in order to carry on the final stages of the work. 



Many of these leaseholds have not yet become productive, but dur- 

 ing the year ended April 1, 1909, there were shipped from Barataria 

 Bay 29,874 barrels (97,090 bushels) of oysters, valued at $1.60 per 

 barrel on the beds, and paying 40 cents per barrel transportation 

 charges to New Orleans. Practically before the experiments were 

 concluded this region, hitherto producing nothing, was yielding to 

 the state an annual income of $906.22 for rentals and $896.22 for the 

 privilege tax of 3 cents per barrel, a total of $1,804.22 per annum. 

 A more important phase of the results is that the planters during 

 the same year received an income of $47,798.40 and the transporta- 

 tion companies $11,949.60, a total of $59,748. Men formerly in debt 

 have become independent, working no harder than they previously 

 did as farmers or fishermen. 



Viewed from the standpoint of the consumer, the results of the 

 work have been equally significant, adding to the state's food supply 

 oysters enough to furnish 600,000 meals of 1 pound each. The region 

 has excellent possibilities, and the oyster industry should undergo 

 great expansion during the next few years. The oysters are of fine 

 quality, fat and shapely, and in 1899 found a steady market when the 

 product of the natural leefs went begging at one-fourth the price. 



liAYOl^ ST. DENIS. 



This experimental plant is located in Barataria Ba}", about one- 

 third mile from the mouth of Bayou St. Denis, on the edge of an 

 old reef of dead clam shells, in about 6 feet of water. It was selected 

 as being outside of the limits of the old oj^^ster growth, and well 

 adapted to test the validity of the opinion that the upper part of the 

 bay had become adapted to the growth of oysters, and that no place 



