60 



In the foregoing table the ground dredged over has been divided into parallel sections, and 

 all oysters from the beds in those sections have been assembled together. 



Section 1 includes all the beds west of Kedge's Strait. 



Section 2 the beds west of that position on the chart marked Eed House. 



Section 3 the beds west of that position marked White House. 



Section 4 the beds west of Hog Neck and Cheesman's Island, and section 5 the beds west of 

 Tangier Island. 



In compiling the tables I have entered only those hauls of dredge that have been taken on the 

 beds or where the oysters were in considerable numbers. The scattered and detached groups and 

 single oysters have not been considered. Section 5 is not an important one, owing to the very 

 small areas of all the beds encountered on it. 



By examining this table it will be seen that a total of 54 bushels, amounting to 21,183 oysters, 

 were examined; that from 200 hauls of the dredge we obtained 78.3 bushels of oysters and shells, 

 and that 31 per cent, or 24.3 bushels of this matter consisted of shells or other debris, and this per- 

 centage does not differ materially from that found on each section. 



Section 5 is not considered, as the percentage there does not entirely represent shells and other 

 debris of the bed, but rather the sponge and grass of the sand shoals. 



Eegarding these beds as in their natural condition of healthy life, it is inferred from the 

 deduced table that, other things being equal, a larger percentage of debris would indicate that the 

 bed was not giving, for the same amount of labor, its natural return; or, in other words, that the 

 mass of old shells brought up by the dredge was out of proportion to the number of oysters. This 

 percentage is of value as indicating the most profitable working grounds, and also as indicating, 

 when very large, that the bed has been overworked and its population destroyed, as the percent- 

 age of shells bears the same relation to the oysters as the unoccupied dwellings in a city do to its 

 inhabitants ; an increased percentage means a decreased population. 



It is evident that there should be a certain ratio between the oysters of different ages, and in 

 general terms the number of young should exceed the mature, thus allowing for the natural deple- 

 tion in each period of growth. Our present knowledge, however, is not sufficient to allow the assign- 

 ment of exact values to this ratio, and the ratios between the different classes are too irregular, 

 owing to the variations in the spawnings in the several seasons, to allow their acceptance as a 

 standard. One thing, however, may be assumed as an axiom, and that is, that the number of 

 young growth on a bed should always exceed the mature oysters, for if there are no young oysters 

 in the community there will soon be no old ones, and as there is a constant depletion of each class, 

 the young must sufficiently outnumber the old to allow those ravages and still adequately supply 

 the demand and fill up the vacant places in the higher classes. 



An inspection of Table I will show — 



1st. That 75 per cent, of the fourth class were of this year's growth. 



2d. That the ratio between the third and fourth classes is the largest, and between the second 

 and third classes the smallest. 



As the second class represents oysters of between two and three years of age, and as the ratio 

 between the second and first classes is large, I judge that there was a successful spatting on these 

 beds in 1876; and as the third class represents, on the whole, oysters of the season of 1877 and 1878, 

 and as the ratios between those of that class and those of the second is small, I infer that the seasons 

 of 1877-'78 were bad spawning ones. Again, the fourth class is principally of this year's growth, 

 and the ratio of fourth to third class is large, from which I infer — what was the case — that the 

 spatting of the last season on these beds was successful. 



As already explained, the third and fourth classes practically represent the offspring of three 

 successive spatting seasons, and thus contain the young growth on the bed, while the first and 

 second classes represent the mature oysters. If, then, we compare the mature with the 3 r oung, we 

 have at once a sure indication of the state of the bed so far as its fecundity is concerned. 



In order that the areas under consideration might be as similar as~ possible to the extensive 



