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spread over each surface. Each bed is very hard, and in most 
cases the probe would not penetrate beyond six inches. 
When it was possible to push through the surface stratum 
a sub-stratum was found of sand. 
The main part of the river bottom is of mud, and bottom 
of that description surrounds the beds. Along both shores 
the mud is firmer and of greater consistency than in the chan- 
nel, and above Roaring Point and on those bottoms are placed 
large numbers of oysters transplanted from the Middle 
Ground bed and from other localities. 
The river seems to be a favorite planting ground, and num- 
bers of boats and canoes were working the Middle Ground bed 
during the summer in order to obtain the “ plants.” 
The oysters are small, single, and in small clusters, and not 
of very good quality. 
The water being shoal, from five to ten feet, no dredging 
could be done on these beds, and consequently the proportions 
to the square yard have not been calculated. 
BEDS IN THE LITTLE ANNEMESSEX. 
There are only a few small beds in this river and they are 
very seldom worked. Their total area is 463,951 square yards. 
The oysters are in detached groups, separated by spaces of 
mud and sand, and are small, single, and in small clusters. 
The depth of water varies from six to twelve feet. 
BEDS IN HEDGE’S STRAITS. 
The bottom of Kedge’s Straits, from the sands on one shore 
to those on the other, is covered with scattered oysters to 
greater or less extent, but they are found in greater numbers 
in the channel on the soft bottoms than elsewhere. 
The total area of the beds is 2,893,615 square yards, and 
three of them are of considerable size. 
The first lies on the northward side of the Straits, north of 
Solomon’s Lump Light House, south and southwest of the 
Western Islands. 
It extends in a W. N.W. and E. S.E. direction (that of the 
