OYSTER CULTURE EXPERIMENTS IN LOUISIANA. 39 



No actual observations of oyster enemies were made at this station, 

 but the conditions are such as to make it probable that the borer 

 may occur in sufficient numbers to prevent the successful application 

 of the methods of planting shells and other materials for the purpose 

 of securing- a strike of spat. At this station no brood oysters were 

 planted, the supply of floating fry originating on the natural and 

 planted beds in contiguous waters being amply sufficient to fill all 

 requirements. In all 16 plantings were made, the methods being 

 more varied than at any other station. The first cultcli was planted 

 about the end of April, 1906, and additional sections of the bottom 

 were planted on the last of May and early in July of the same year. 

 The results were such as to discourage further work, and after a 

 final examination of the beds in April, 1907, the experiment was 

 abandoned. 



Oyster shells were deposited both broadcast and in small piles in 

 proportions varying from 400 to GOO bushels to the acre, and after 

 the lapse of about one month were found to be so densely covered 

 with spat as to defy count, in many cases the small oysters being 

 superimposed in several layers. At the end of two months many of 

 the shells spread broadcast had become engulfed in the mud, but 

 those still unburied bore large numbers of young oysters measuring 

 between three-fourths and IJ inches in length, with many smaller 

 ones. The shells deposited in piles were still ;inburied in larger 

 proportions, and all not covered by the mud, whether they were on 

 the surface of tlie piles or in the interior, bore an average of about 

 35 young oysters, each ranging from one-half inch to over Ih inches 

 long. In AjDril, 1907, practically all of these shells, both those spread 

 broadcast and those planted in piles, were buried in the mud. Only 

 4 or 5 shells, of those planted in piles, were recovered, and these bore 7 

 oysters, the largest of which was '2^ inches long. 



Other shells were planted on a flooring of palmetto leaves, on the 

 supposition that the fibrous matter of the latter would resist decay 

 and serve as a mattress to prevent the sinking of the shells. Though 

 this experiment was by no means a success the results were the best 

 attained in this locality, and after the lapse of a year a few oysters 

 measuring 1^ to 3f inches long were recovered from the bed. It is 

 possible that in the remote future, when it may be advisable to 

 utilize the very soft bottoms of Terrebonne Parish, some modification 

 of this method may be of value, but it has no present utility. Several 

 plantings were made of palmetto leaves and brush thrust by their 

 stems into the mud. It was hoped that these materials would hold 

 together long enough to yield marketable oysters and that the vege- 

 table fragments and oysters falling to the bottom would eventually 

 stiffen the consistency of the surface mud and make a firm foundation 

 for future operations. The strike on these materials, especially on 



