OYSTER CULTURE EXPERIMENTS IN LOUISIANA. 27 



Writing in 1808 one. of the authors said: 



It seoius probable that the scarcity of oysters in Falsemouth Bay is due in 

 large part to the lack of suitable i)laces of attacbiuent for the spat, aiidif this i)t' 

 so there is but little doubt that productive beds niij^ht be established by plant- 

 ing shells, together with a sufficient number of brood oysters to furnish fry. 

 We found here the largest area of tirni bottom discovered anywhere within the 

 limits of the reconnoissance. In most other parts of the district the hard 

 bottom is distributed in small patches lying like islands iu the midst of soft 

 mud, but iu Falsemouth Bay shells and seed could be deposited almost any- 

 where without danger of becoming engulfed. The amount of oyster food is 

 larger than almost anywhere else in the district, the average number of 

 diatoms in each liter of water 1 foot above the bottom being about 22.000. 

 The extreme fatness of the oysters is also ample evidence of the abundance of 

 food, although, of course, the amount available for each individual would 

 become less if planting were extensively undertaken. 



Although, as previonsly stated, considerable areas of bottom have 

 been leased in contiguous and neighboring Avaters, the recommenda- 

 tion^ just quoted have borne no fruit, and it was with the purpose of 

 testing their validity that experiments were undertaken at this 

 place. 



The site selected for the experimental work was in a small bight 

 in the northeastern part of the bay, about one-third of a mile from 

 the mouth of a deep cut-off running into Nine-mile Bayou. The 

 water has a depth of about 3| feet at low tide. 



Pirate Point on one side and a chain of several small islands on 

 the other form a somewhat funnel-shaped area with its small end 

 opening into Nine-mile Bayou and its large end communicating with 

 Treasure Ba}'^ and the waters to the eastward. The tidal flow enter- 

 ing and leaving the interior waters in large part passes through this 

 area, and, as the bayou communicating with Mississippi Sound is 

 wide and deep, the currents, especially in the northern part, where 

 the plantation is located, are moderately strong and constant. 

 Measurements on the planted beds indicate a current of about one- 

 half mile per hour on moderate tides, and observation showed the 

 rate to be approximately uniform over an area of several thousand 

 acres in this vicinity and probably over the entire eastern part of 

 the bay. The importance of this fact need not be indicated to ])rac- 

 tical oyster planters. 



The salinitv of the water is comparatively low, rendering the oys- 

 ters rather insipid when used as " shell stock." but not interfering 

 with their value for the shucking trade. During the spring and 

 summer of 1008 the water was nearly fresh, its specific gravity rang- 

 ing about 1.0020. but at all other times during the experiment it was 

 somewhat higher, fluctuating between l.OO.'^O and 1.0002. with an 

 average of 1.0050 for the entire period and about l.OOTO in the 

 oyster season. During the three years of the investigation there was 



