OYSTER BEDS OF JAMES RIVER. VIRGINIA. 



63 



Total Content of Young or Seed Oysters, Public Grounds No. 2 Nansemond 

 County, and No. 6 Isle of Wight County. 



Name of rock. 



Dense. 



Scatter- 

 ing. 



Very- 

 scatter- 

 ing. 



Depleted. 



Total. 





Bush. 



Bush. 



Bush. 



Bush. 



390 



27,370 



5,890 



4,386 



2,112 



112 



760 



1,890 



4,838 



2,700 







6,590 



Bush. 

 390 





12,580 



59,318 



1,748 



2,025 



893 



9,996 

 854 

 996 



1,326 

 275 



1.392 



1,652 

 770 



3,290 

 



6,303 



109,264 





8,492 





372 

 3.780 



150 

 3,216 



7,779 





8,111 





537 



High Shoal 



1,651 



4,112 



1,989 



13, 706 







608 



7,019 



Trout Shoal 



7,654 



Dog Shoal 



2,480 



8,325 



915 



10, 077 





28,021 





915 





13,501 









Total 



31,818 



86,050 



26,854 



57,038 



201,760 



In individuals the small oysters are five or six times as numerous 

 as the market oysters and in measured quantity they are about 

 twice as abundant. On the dense areas they bulk about the same as 

 the market oysters, but as individuals they are two or three times as 

 many. On the scattered area they much exceed the market 

 oysters in numbers and are more than double them in measured 

 quantity. As both of these types of bottom are almost invariably 

 supplied with cultch in the form of clean shells, it can be safely 

 assumed that their future is assured under ordinarily fair conditions 

 and provided the beds are not stripped under infractions of the 

 culling law. 



On the area of very scattering growth the quantity of young in 

 nearly every ease materially exceeds that of market oysters. Almost 

 the sole exception is Nansemond Ridge Rock, where the young and 

 market oysters are about equal in quantity, the former being de- 

 cidedly deficient in all places excepting close to the denser areas 

 below a line between Pig and Barrel points. 



Excepting Nansemond Ridge Rock the very scattering areas bear 

 an average of about two and one-half times as many bushels of 

 young as of old oysters per acre, and there is nearly everywhere a 

 sufficient abundance of shells to justify the prediction of future 

 regeneration if man will permit. On Nansemond Ridge the fu- 

 ture of the very scattering areas, except in a few places, appears 

 unpromising. 



The depleted area is, on the whole, deficient in shells and young 

 oysters, and if we except one or two spots near Nansemond Light, 

 the outer end of Ballards Marsh Rock, and several other places 

 quite close to the productive areas, there is but little probability 

 (lull any of the area will become naturally productive, 



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