74 



OYSTER BEDS OF JAMES RIVER, VIRGINIA. 



computing the availability of the oysters bring on the bottom, its 

 variations have been given the fullest possible consideration. For a 

 discussion of the general principles on which the quantity of oysters 

 available with profit have been determined, the reader is referred to 

 preceding pages. For the market oyster beds as a whole the following 

 table gives a summary: 



Summary of Available Context of Market Oysters on Public Grounds. 



Name of ground. 



Dense. 



150 



1 Bushels. 



Kansernond No. 2 \ 91 1t . n 



Isle of Wight No. 6 f £l ' 10U 



Nansemond No. 3 



Isle of Wight No. 2 



Isle of Wight No. 3 



Isle of Wight No. 4 



Isle of Wight No. 5 



Warwick No. 1 and No. 2 (below Deep Creek) 



Total available market oysters 62, 600 



A verage per acre 86 



Per cent I 63. 7 



Scatter- Very seat- 

 ing, tering. 



Bushels. 

 20,325 



50 



Bushels. 



41,300 



10,100 



30,475 



32 



31.0 



3,550 



5,150 



5 



5.3 



Total. 



Bushels. 

 43.075 



98,225 



100.0 



This may be regarded as a maximum estimate of the probable 

 yield of the beds during the season of 1909-10. Owing to the low 

 basis adopted as a minimum wage the yield may not reach the quan- 

 tity indicated, as it is doubtful whether the beds can be profitably 

 fished as closely as has been assumed. A }nield of $1.35 per full day 

 of tonging will leave a very small balance after culling and other 

 expenses are deducted, and the beds undoubtedly will be abandoned 

 for the season before this degree of depletion has been reached. For 

 this reason the only parts of the natural rock which can be classed as 

 really productive are those designated as dense and scattering, which 

 furnish, according to the foregoing estimates, about 95 per cent of the 

 available product while constituting only about 13 per cent of the 

 tojtal area of the public grounds under consideration. 



Taken as a whole, though there are exceptions noted in the pre- 

 ceding accounts of the individual rocks, the areas covered with very 

 scattering growths are of but little present value, their total esti- 

 mated available product during the present season being valued at 

 less than $2,500, or about $2.50 per acre. There is, however, another 

 phase to the question which has been touched on in the more de- 

 tailed accounts of the individual rocks. This is the possibility of 

 future improvement, and is dependent upon the existing quantity 

 of young oysters and the presence of an ample supply of clean shells 

 to serve as places of attachment for future generations of young. 

 The quantity of young oysters less than 3 inches long on the public 

 grounds under discussion at the opening of the present oyster season 

 was as follows: 





