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laying the deterioration to excessive dredging, while tbe^ 
dredgers, or those owning pungies or other vessels em- 
ployed exclusively with the dredge, while they admitted the 
decrease in the number of oysters, laid such decrease to the 
action of natural and unexplained causes, arguing that the 
evident extension of the beds and improvement of the oys- 
ters, due to dredging, was sufficient to prove its good rather 
than ill effects. 
In regard to the effects of ice in cold weather, every one 
coincided in the opinion that the oysters in deep water were 
most affected, and those in shoal or brackish water were least 
so. In the same depths and character of water, those oysters 
about the edges of “muddy rocks” and close to muddy channels 
or sloughs were most affected by the cold or a severe freeze. 
After the latter event the packers distinguish the deep water 
oyster by its dark, slimy appearance, and decline it, though at 
the same time shoal water oysters are in good order and are ac- 
cepted. With regard to the quality of the animals, those in 
the Sounds were considered finer than those in the creeks and 
rivers, and of the different beds those from the Shark’s Fin, 
Terrapin Sands and Bird Rocks were considered superior.. 
Regarding flavor alone, those from the salt water were the best, 
and generally the salter the water the better the flavor. 
In regard to an increased freshness of water, due to fresh- 
ets and heavy rains, it was the general opinion that during 
the winter season it was not of much consequence, but that 
in spring or summer heavy rains or freshets were very bene- 
ficial, especially in the spawning season, hastening its advent 
and shortening its duration. An increased freshness of water 
always fattened the oyster. Oysters in salt water were al- 
ways poor and oysters were generally poorer after a dry sea- 
son. Planted oysters above Pig Point and the Old Rocks, 
in Pocomoke Sound, have been known to die from ab- 
sorbing too much fresh water and those on the Old Rocks 
have sometimes suffered from the same cause, but this only 
occurs during heavy freshets. 
With regard to the depth of water and character of bottom, 
shallow water was preferred, and sticky mud or mud and sand,. 
