OYSTER BEDS OF JAMES RIVER, VIRGINIA. 57 



The public grounds are officially designated by numbers and the 

 name of the county within which they are supposed to lie, and on 

 the accompanying charts their boundaries, accurately platted from 

 the charts of the Baylor survey, are indicated by broken black lines. 

 The boundaries of the natural rocks, as determined by the present 

 survey, are shown in solid red lines, within which the varying density 

 of 0} 7 ster growth is shown by the relative density of the shading. 

 An inspection of the charts will show that the natural rocks are more 

 or less scattered, between and about them lying barren bottoms, 

 shown as unshaded areas, within the boundaries of the Baylor survey. 



At various places it was found that certain private grounds, as 

 indicated by the boundary stakes, encroached more or less on the 

 public grounds, though from the flimsy character of the marks it was 

 difficult in many cases to determine the real facts. This apparent 

 encroachment of private interests on the public domain was observed 

 at various places in Nansemond River, between Fishing Point and 

 Ballards Marsh, about Creek Channel Shoal and Aaron Shoal rocks, 

 in the vicinity of Browns Shoal rocks, at the inshore edges of Kettle 

 Hole and Blunt Point rocks, and at various places between Jail Island 

 and Mulberry Point. 



Whatever may have been the conditions under which this en- 

 croachment was originally permitted, it was undoubtedly aided by 

 the latter-day uncertainty as to the Baylor boundaries. Apparently 

 but little effort has been made to maintain or replace the shore 

 marks to which the corners of the Baylor survey were referred, and 

 a number of them appear to be now unavailable for reference. The 

 irregularity of the boundaries has also made the maintenance of the 

 lines more difficult, and the same conditions have made it almost 

 impossible for the oyster police to prevent the planters from depre- 

 dating the public beds beyond their staked boundaries. 



These reasons have made it important to both "natural growthers" 

 and planters that an examination should be made into the actual 

 location of the productive areas or those which, though at present 

 more or less unproductive, may be reasonably expected to recuperate 

 under proper natural conditions. 



To assist to an understanding of the conditions on the public 

 beds as a whole the following discussion is offered. The several 

 public beds in the region surveyed are considered with regard to the 

 relative areas of dense, scattered, very scattered, and depleted 

 growths, and barren bottom. The first four are measured from the 

 results of the present survey, while the barren bottom is regarded 

 as the difference between the sum of these areas and the areas of the 

 public beds according to Baylor's computations, the data being ex- 

 hibited in tabular form for each of the several public grounds. For 

 each public ground or for each fraction or combination considered 

 as an entity in the following pages, there are furnished tables and 



