OYSTER BOTTOMS OF MISSISSIPPI EAST OF BILOXI. 



25 



The dense and scattered growths, but especially the former, are 

 doubtless somewhat more prolific than is estimated in this report, as 

 where the oysters are very rank the tongs in many cases do not take 

 up all within the extent of the ''grab, " and as the estimates are based 

 on the area covered by the open tong heads and the number of oysters 

 brought up in a definite number of grabs, there is certainty of an 

 underestimate. On less prolific bottom this error does not occur. 

 It should be stated that the bushel employed, w^hile of the legal dimen- 

 sions, contains more than the trade bushel, because to secure uni- 

 formity of results the oysters are culled into singles or doubles and 

 carefully packed in the measure. It is estimated that it holds, for 

 this reason, 25 to 30 per cent more than when filled in the ordinary 

 way. The small oysters, on which the future of the beds is in large 

 measure dependent, differ from the larger oysters very materially in 

 their distribution, as is shown in the following table: 



Summarized Content of Young Oysters on Public Beds. 



Name of bed. 



Character of oyster growth. 



Dense. 



Scatter- 

 ing. 



Very- 

 scatter- 

 ing. 



Depleted. 



Total. 



Scranton Reef 



Patches near Scranton Reef 



West Pascagoula Reef 



Deer Island, East Point 



Small jMitches, Biloxi Bay 



Biloxi Bay, below railway bridge. 



Back Bay, east bed 



Back Bay, west bed. 



Total. 



Bushels. 

 32,560 



89,531 



670 



600 



6,120 



3,277 



8,091 



Bushels. 



46, 935 



2,070 



399 

 693 

 14,840 

 372 

 175 



Bushels. 



82,812 

 2,700 



21,063 

 1,015 

 2,280 

 2,652 

 4,104 



15, 621 



Bushels. 



7,074 



32 



26,505 



47 



33 



4,238 



987 



280 



Bushels. 



169,381 



4,802 



137,099 



2,131 



3,606 



27,850 



8,740 



24, 167 



140, 849 



65,484 



132, 247 



39, 196 



377,776 



It will be observed that lq the entire region surveyed there is over 

 three times the quantity of small oysters as of large ones, but if the 

 table be subjected to analysis it will be found that they are very 

 unequally distributed between the Pascagoula and Biloxi localities. 

 Of the total 377,776 bushels, 311,282 bushels, or over 82 per cent, are 

 found in the former, and but 66,494 bushels, or less than 18 per cent, 

 in the latter. In the former there is nearly five times the quantity 

 less than 3 inches long that there is of larger ones, while in Biloxi Bay 

 there is but little difference. On Scranton and West Pascagoula 

 Keefs and the adjacent small patches there are averages of 1,061 

 bushels per acre on the dense growth, 426 bushels on the scattering, 

 200 bushels on the very scatteruig, and 92 bushels on what is called 

 depleted bottom. In other words, for every bushel of oysters of 

 market size there are on the dense areas 4.8 bushels of small ones, 

 on the scattering growth 3.8 bushels, on the very scattering growth 

 4.4 bushels, and on the depleted bottom 13 bushels. 



