NATURAL OYSTER BEDS OF DELAWARE. 25 



Estimated Oyster Content op Natural Beds, July 1, 1910. 



i Estimated from chain indications. 



2 Practically all depleted. 



Combining the foregoing data, an interesting comparison may be 

 instituted between the beds sustaining a heavy fishery with dredges 

 and those which recently have been worked but little. According 

 to the best information, supported by our own observations in the 

 latter part of the season, practically all of the dredging in 1910 was 

 on the beds south of Over-the-Bar, although a few vessels were 

 observed apparently working on Thrum-cap. These beds, excluding 

 Flogger, had a total area of 1,088 acres and a total estimated oyster 

 content of 111,061 bushels, or an average of 102 bushels per acre, at 

 the end of the season. On the beds which were reported or observed 

 to be most severely worked the oyster content averaged considerably 

 less than this. On the Ridge the average for the whole bed was about 

 60 bushels per acre, on Drum bed about 97 bushels, on Silver bed 

 about 80 bushels, on Old bed 30 bushels, and on Southwest bed about 

 106 bushels, and for the five beds taken as a whole the average was 

 about 75 bushels per acre. 



The beds above and including Over-the Bar have an area of 396 

 acres and a total estimated content of 77,984 bushels of oysters of all 

 sizes, or an average of 197 bushels per acre. These beds, owing to 

 their position, are probably more subject than the lower beds to dam- 

 age from freshets and are probably naturally less productive, yet 

 they had at the time of examination an oyster growth over 2£ times 

 as dense. If we consider the various small patches surrounding the 

 five beds enumerated above, which are in general too small to dredge 

 or which, if large enough, have been overlooked during the season 



