8 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN VICINITY OF APALACHICOLA, FLA. 
the first week of May, 1908, there was avery high freshet accompanied 
by southeast winds, which prevailed for three days, but they were 
followed by heavy northwest winds, which drove the fresh water to 
the eastward, without forming mud deposits, leaving the oysters 
uninjured. A temperature of 22° F. on February 1, 1909, produced 
no serious results, and about the middle of March of the same year a 
heavy freshet occurred, but the prevailing winds forced the fresh 
water out to East Pass, and, fortunately, it was too early in the season 
to have any effect on the spat. 
On September 20 and 21, 1909, a gale occurred which did but little 
harm at this place, although there was very extensive damage on 
Mississippi Sound, and on October 11 and 12 there was another storm, 
but,.owing to the direction of the wind, the oyster reefs escaped 
practically unharmed. 
During the second and third weeks of April, 1910, there was a freshet, 
but the prevailing wind carried the water eastward,so that the deposit 
of silt was not sufficient to smother the spat. 
The yields for the seasons 1910-1914 were equal to the average. 
For 1913-14 there were gathered 240,436 tubs, or so-called bushels, 
statistically reported by the Florida State Shell Fish Commissioner 
as 120,218 barrels. 
The season of 1914-15 bid fair to be a good one, but, incident to the 
European war, there was less demand for steamed oysters or raw 
material. So for this season the yield was but 144,940 tubs, or 72,470 
barrels. 
There was a freshet in January, 1915, but little, if any, damage was 
done. 
METHODS OF THE SURVEY. 
The methods employed were those pursued in former surveys of like 
character, and are explained in detail in a description of the beds of the 
James River,? from which some of the following is repeated: 
A “boat sheet” was prepared, on which were accurately platted 
the positions, as determined by triangulation, of lighthouses, build- 
ings, tripods, etc., used as signals. These data were furnished by the 
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. 
The oyster beds were discovered by soundings with a lead line, but 
principally by means of a length of chain dragged over the bottom at 
the end of a copper wire running from the sounding boat. The wire 
was wound on a reel, and its unwound length was adjusted to the 
depth of water and the speed of the launch, so that the chain was 
always on the bottom. Whenever the chain touched a shell or an_ 
oyster the shock or vibration was transmitted up the wire to the hand 
a Moore, H. F.: Condition and extent of the oyster beds of James River, Va. Bureau of Fisheries 
document no, 729, 
