OYSTER BEDS OF JAMES RIVER, VIRGINIA. 



39 



each end of the western rock there is a small patch of very scattering 

 growth capable of yielding an average of 3 J bushels of marketable 

 oysters per day. 



The area charted as depleted bears very few marketable oysters. 



The young growth on the dense areas is very prolific, being in 

 sufficient quantity to afford a daily return to the tonger of about 35 

 bushels. On the scattering bottom about 10 bushels per day could 

 be taken, while on the depleted bottom as a whole the average would 

 hardly exceed 4 bushels, although two or three times that many 

 could be taken in places. 



Details op Examination of White Shoal Rocks. 



Station 

 num- 



Date of ex- 

 amination. 



Mean 

 depth 

 of wa- 

 ter. 



Character of growth 

 of market oysters. 



Oysters caught per 

 square yard. 



Estimated quantity oys- 

 ters per acre. 



ber. 



Spat. 



Culls. 



Counts. 



Seed. 



Market. 



Total. 



169 



Aug. 18,1909 

 do 



Sept. 1,1909 



do 



do 



do 



Sept. 14, 1909 



do 



do 



do 



do 



do 



do 



do 



do 



do 



Feet. 

 5.5 

 8.5 

 10.0 

 10.0 

 13.0 

 9.5 

 9.5 

 4.0 

 7.5 

 10.5 

 9.0 

 8.5 

 6.5 

 12.5 

 10.5 

 11.5 





7.7 



3.8 



11.7 



11.7 



15.2 



10.0 



6.1 



11.5 



2.0 



2.6 



.3 



1.0 



.3 



1.9 



4.6 



.3 



92.3 



10.4 



63.3 



.29.6 



26.9 



28.4 



26.2 



29.3 



8.7 



19.7 



1.3 



6.3 



.0 



11.0 



21.0 



.3 



6.5 

 9.2 

 7.1 

 17.9 

 8.3 

 7.1 

 11.6 

 5.7 

 3.0 

 2.3 



.3 

 1.0 



.0 

 1.9 

 1.8 



.3 



Bush. 

 650 



92 

 487 

 268 

 274 

 250 

 210 

 265 



70 

 145 



10 



47 

 2 



84 



166 



4 



Bush. 



90 



127 



98 



247 



115 



98 



160 



79 



41 



32 



4 



14 







26 



25 



4 



Bush. 

 740 



170 

 443 



444 

 445 

 447 

 556 



do 



do 



do 



do 



do 



...do... 



219 

 585 

 515 

 389 

 348 

 370 



557 

 558 

 562 



do 



Very scattering 



. ..do. .. 



344 

 111 

 177 



552 





14 



553 

 554 

 555 



do... 



do 



do 



61 



2 



110 



559 

 561 



do 



do 



191 

 8 



SEED OYSTER AREA. 



JAIL ISLAND ROCK. 



For this and all of the following rocks the standard of density of 

 growth is different from that adopted in the preceding descriptions. 

 The cull law, so far as it relates to the size of oysters, does not apply, 

 and oysters of whatever size may be taken. The entire content of 

 the bed, both young and old, is therefore taken into consideration, 

 and as the average price of seed oysters is about two-thirds of that 

 of the market oysters from the James River, a Larger quantity lias 

 to be taken to furnish a living wage. In all of the following descrip- 

 tions a bed is regarded as dense when 12 or more bushels may be 

 taken by a tonger in a day's work, as scattering when it will yield 

 between 8 and 12 bushels, very scattering when ii yields between 1 

 and 8, and depleted if less than 4 bushels can be tonged per day. 

 As the market oysters sell for 45 cents and the seed oysters lor but 

 30 cents per bushel, the financial return is essentially equal. 



Jail Island Rock, which extends alongshore west of the month of 

 Warwick River, Is continuous at its offshore edge with Wreck Shoal 



