116 
where in the Sound. Those beds lying in deep water are par- 
ticularly free from an undue proportion of mud on the bot- 
tom, the shoalest beds having the thickest mud covering. 
If there was a constant and increasing deposit upon the 
beds they would long ago have disappeared, or at least have 
become of much smaller area, but the reverse is the case, the 
beds increasing in area constantly. 
They are, however, exposed to one species of deposit which 
is very injurious. Heavy gales occurring in winter and sum- 
mer frequently tear up the large quantities of grass, sea- 
weed and sponge on the sand shoals about the Sound and de- 
posit it upon the beds. If this occurs in summer, when there 
are a smaller number of dredgers at work, the effect is very 
injurious, the “ cultch ” being covered, and the young, iff 
spawned, smoothered by the grass, weeds, sand and mud which 
it collects. The California Hock, Piney Island Bar and Mano- 
kin beds are those most subject to this evil. 
The gales also have the effect of covering the scattered oys- 
ters on the leeward sands, which process is called “ sanding, 55 * 
and, from what I could learn, appears to be a very injurious 
one. The oysters are buried, and the bottom becomes smooth 
and hard. Where at least thirty bushels of oysters could be 
taken previous to a gale, not one oyster could be found subse- 
quent to it. 
The winter gales have the greatest effect, owing probably 
to their greater severity and direction, which is from the’ 
northward and westward. The “ sand 55 oysters are found in 
largest numbers on the eastern shores of the Sound, and about 
Hedge’s and Hooper’s Straits, consequently they would feel a 
northwesterly gale much more than one from the opposite di- 
rection. 
They are said not to recover from the “sanding” for several 
months, and upon their reappearance, are noticeable on ac- 
count of the whiteness of their shells. 
Though there were several very heavy blows while we were 
in the Sound, they were not of sufficient severity to produce 
the effect spoken of, and if they had been I should not have 
been able to detect it, on account of the shallowness of the 
