72 



OYSTER BEDS OF JAMES RIVER, VIRGINIA. 



The estimated available content on these beds — that is, the quan- 

 tity which may be removed before tonging will cease to pay even a 

 very small assumed minimum livelihood — is as follows : 



Available Content of Oysters. Public Ground No. 1 Isle of Wight County. 



Name of rock. 



Dense. *»{*■* 



ing. 



Very scat- 

 tering. 



Total. 



Bushels. Bushels. 

 Rock Wharf Shoals 2. (XX) 



Bushels. 



Bushels. 

 2.000 



Between Rock Wharf Shoals and Spindle Rock 5.000 



50 



5.050 



Spindle 1 . 500 



20 iaat\ 



Days Point 500 





500 









Total 



9,000 



70 0.070 











Practically all of the available supply of oysters on this ground 

 is therefore on the bottom classed as dense and the area of very 

 scattering growth is negligible. The available product is of the 

 average density of 111 bushels per acre. On the dense area the 

 shells are sufficient, on the very scattering area they are in fair quan- 

 tity, while on the depleted ground they are deficient. 



SUMMARY. 



The public grounds in the region covered by the survey and of which 

 a detailed discussion is found in the preceding pages cover an area 

 of 26,40S.4 acres as computed in the report of the Baylor survey. 

 Of this acreage, 12,790.6 acres lie below the line drawn between 

 Deep Creek and Days Point and 13,617.8 acres lie above that line. 

 The beds of the former region are available for the production of 

 marketable oysters only, the law requiring that all oysters under 3 

 inches long be returned to the beds, while the latter region is set 

 apart for the production of seed oysters, and the cull law is not appli- 

 cable except in so far as it forbids the removal of shells. 



Of the entire area the recent survey shows that 3,227 acres may be 

 classed as bearing a dense growth, 2.078 as scattering. 1,848 as very 

 scattering, 3,884 as depleted, and 15,371.4 as barren. The barren 

 ami depleted bottoms together comprise 19,255.4 acres, or about 73 

 per cent of the total, and all bottom which can be construed as pro- 

 ductive aggregates 7,153 acres, or 27 per cent of the entire bottom 

 included within the Baylor lines. Owing to the difference in the pro- 

 visions of the law applicable to the two regions and the resultant 

 difference in the character of their product, it is necessary to present 

 separate summaries of their present condition. 



MARKET OYSTEB AREA. 



The beds of this region are shown on chart 1 accompanying this 

 report, to which, and to the preceding pages, readers are referred 



