OYSTER BOTTOMS OF MISSISSIPPI EAST OF BILOXI. 35 



Mississippi Sound, where the general conditions affecting spawning 

 are essentially the same as at the eastern end, make it possible to 

 indicate with some precision the period during which the spawn is 

 likely to be emitted. 



It is probable that the eggs may ripen even in the winter during 

 sustained warm periods, but it is doubtful in these cases, even though 

 the eggs be fertihzed, if development ever proceeds far enough to 

 secure a set of spat. The normal spawning probably occurs from 

 April to October, as it does in similar waters in Louisiana, and clean 

 shells or other cultch planted during those months should receive 

 a good set of spat. The young oysters are free-swimming organisms 

 during a short period of their early life, and as they are produced in 

 untold myriads on the crowded natural beds and carried considerable 

 distances by the currents, the water over a large part of the sound 

 must be teeming with the fry during the favorable part of the year. 

 Most of these embryo oysters perish through falling on unsuitable 

 bottom at the stage of the shell formation when they are still barely 

 visible to the unaided eye, and may be stifled by an exceedingly thin 

 deposit of mud or shme. Those fortunate enough to alight on 

 shells or other oysters and similar firm supports survive in large 

 numbers, as is witnessed by the crowded condition of the beds, 

 but over the vastly greater proportion of the bottom there is nothing 

 to afford a haven. The only fundamental difference between an 

 07fster bed and the surrounding barren bottom is that the former 

 presents places for the attachment of the spat and the latter does not. 



Many free-swimming oyster fry are also killed by sudden drops in 

 temperature, though this is not common on the Gulf coast, and by 

 heavy rainfalls. The latter also tend to retard or suspend spawning 

 through lowering the salinity of the water, and it frequently happens 

 that heavy freshets defer spawning until summer. As freshets 

 usually leave the shells and other cultch in excellent condition so far 

 as cleanliness is concerned, probably through the destruction of sUme- 

 producing organisms, it frequently happens that a late spawning 

 season produces an enormous set. 



OYSTER CULTURE. 



Oyster culture in the sense employed on the Atlantic and Pacific 

 coasts and in some of the GuK States is almost negligible of consider- 

 ation, as at present practiced in IViississippi. The State conducts 

 planting operations on the public bottoms, expending large sums 

 annually during the years 1908 to 1911 in depositing oysters and 

 shells on the reefs and adjacent barren bottoms, but there is very little 

 oyster planting under private auspices, and none at all excepting 

 under rights accruing to riparian owners. In 1911, but 4 per cent of 

 the oysters produced in the State came from private beds, a smaller 



