OYSTER BEDS OF JAMES RIVER, VIRGINIA. 

 Summarized Content op Young Oysters on Public Grounds. 



75 



Name of ground. 



Dense. 



Scatter- 

 ing. 



Very scat- 

 tering. 



Depleted. 



Total. 





Bushels. 

 \ 31,818 



Bushels. 

 86, 050 



Bushels. 

 26, 854 



Bushels. 



57, 038 



50 

 2, 500 



Bushels. 



Isle of Wight No. 6 



201, 760 





50 



Isle of VV ight No. 2 



250 



500 





3,250 



Isle of Wight No. 3 





Isle of Wight No. 4 













Isle of Wight No. 5 













Isle of Wight No. 6 













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



121,77 '4 



53, 287 



58, 353 



19, 002 



252, 416 



Total 



153, 842 

 212 

 33.7 



139, 837 



148 



30.6 



85, 207 



84 



18.6 



78, 590 



35 



17.1 



457 476 







Per cent 



100.0 







Here again is evidence that the areas of dense and scattering 

 growth should be regarded as not only at present but prospectively 

 productive beds. In quantity, and to a greater extent numerically, 

 the young are considerably in excess of the market oysters, and, as in 

 both classes of bottom under consideration the latter are sufficient to 

 render the bottom undoubtedly at present productive, the abun- 

 dance of young is sufficient to continue productiveness, under proper 

 regulations as to culling, for at least two years. After the lapse of 

 that period the condition will depend upon the extent of the strike, 

 and other factors concerning which nothing can be predicted. 



So far as the areas covered with a very scattering growth are 

 concerned closer scrutiny is required. As these bottoms are on the 

 verge of depletion in respect to market oysters, the proportion of 

 young to large oysters should be greater to insure that the conditions 

 will improve in the future. 



The writer is not in possession of definite experimental data appli- 

 cable specifically to the James River, but from a knowledge of con- 

 ditions in other parts of the Chesapeake region he feels justified in 

 assuming that oysters as an average will become fit for market in 

 from two to three years from the time of fixation or setting. If 

 experience elsewhere be a guide, some oysters will grow more rapidly 

 and some less rapidly; but two years may be adopted, with verj 

 little question, as an irreducible minimum for the average age at 

 which they can be advantageously put on the market. On this 

 assumption and neglecting, for the time being, the question of mor- 

 tality, it is at once apparent that to maintain the present status 

 there must be two small oysters for each market oyster killed or 

 caught. 



There is no way to determine, without long and painstaking obser- 

 vations, the actual average mortality at various ages on the natural 

 rocks of James River. The experience of planters of seed oysters is 

 valueless in this connection, being based on oysters handled and 



