78 



OYSTER BEDS OF JAMES RIVER, VIRGINIA. 



A considerable proportion of these oysters could not be profitably 

 removed from the beds, being either too sparsely distributed in the 

 first place or constituting a necessar}^ remnant which would become 

 too scattered after tonging had been carried on for a period on bot- 

 toms of greater initial productiveness. To show the estimated 

 maximum possible yield of the beds during the present season the 

 following table has been prepared, covering the entire area of seed 

 beds in the James River: 



Summary of Available Content of Oysters on Seed Areas. 



Name of ground. 



Dense. 



: Scatter- 

 ing. 



Warwick No. 1 (above Deep Creek). 

 Isle of Wight No. 1 



Bushels. 



569, 100 



9,000 



Total 578. 100 



Average per acre 232 



Per cent 87. 7 



Bushels. 

 59,900 



,900 



53 



9.1 



Very scat- 

 tering. 



Bushels. 



21,500 



70 



21.570 



25 



3.2 



Total. 



Bushels. 

 650,500 

 9,070 



659, 570 



100.0 



In preparing the data on which this table is based it has been as- 

 sumed that the seed will bring 30 cents per bushel and that no bottom 

 can be considered productive when its \-ield is reduced below 4 bushels 

 per day of actual tonging, excluding the time occupied in culling. 

 As in the preceding pages of this report, the probable yield is based 

 on the density of the oyster growth and the depth of water on the 

 several parts of each bed. 



Although the data employed differs somewhat from that used in 

 the discussion of the bottoms below Deep Creek, owing to the lower 

 price brought by seed as compared with market oysters, the financial 

 return to the tonger from the bottoms designated as respectively 

 dense, scattering, and very scattering is essentially the same. The 

 minimum yield assumed to place a given area above the grade of 

 depleted bottom is valued at SI. 20 per day at the prices recently pre- 

 vailing, and this can not be regarded as other than an extreme mini- 

 mum, because, when the number of idle days is taken into considera- 

 tion, a tonger could not afford to Avork for such low wages. The 

 limit is justifiable only in consideration of the fact that before the 

 dense and scattering areas arc reduced to a level so low they will have 

 yielded to the tonger an average daily wage much in excess of this. 



If the price of oysters falls below 30 cents per bushel, it will not be 

 profitable to work the beds so closely as was contemplated in the 

 preparation of the above table. At the prices reported as current 

 on the James River in November, 1909, namely, 20 cents per bushel 

 for seed, the estimated catch on the area of very scattering growth 

 may be eliminated, that on the scattering bottom reduced by at least 

 50 per cent and on the dense areas by about 15 per cent, lowering the 



