40 OYSTER BEDS OE JAMES RIVER, VIRGINIA. 
Oyster Growth on Jail Island Rock. 
Rock, the boundary between them as adopted in this report being 
purely arbitrary. 
The extent and general condition of the bed at the time of the 
survey was as follows: 
Oyster Growth on Jail Island Rock. 
Character of growth. 
Area. 
Oysters 
per acre. 
Estimated 
content 
of oysters. 
Dense 
Acres. 
227 
Bushels. 
143 
Bushels. 
32,461 
21, 582 
Scattering 
198 
109 
Very scattering 
14 
28 
392 
Denleted 
508 
8 
4,064 
Total 
947 
58,499 
The principal area of dense growth runs from the inner edge of 
Wreck Shoal Rock in a gradually narrowing belt to a tongue extend- 
ing to within 200 or 300 yards of shore between Jail Island and the 
mouth of Warwick River. The depth of water gradually decreases 
from about 9 feet to 2 or 3 feet at low water, near Jail Island. There 
is also a small area of dense growth lying on an isolated patch in 
about 10 or 11 feet of water off the mouth of Warwick River, which, 
being just on the cull line, is arbitrarily included in the Jail Island 
bed for the purposes of this report. The dense bottom as a whole 
will afford the tonger an average catch per day of about 17 bushels 
of oysters of all sizes. 
The area of scattering growth lies in a single body north and west 
of the preceding in from 6 to 11 feet of water. The growth on the 
whole is rather heavier in the deeper water, and as an average should 
yield approximately 9 bushels per day. 
The very scattering growth is in a small patch immediately east 
of Jail Island, where the yield to the tonger should be about 5 bushels 
per day. 
The depleted bottom forms a broad zone on the inshore side and 
a narrow strip on the eastern edge of the bed. There is also a de- 
pleted area adjoining the small, isolated, dense patch before described, 
and a small patch lying between that and the main bed. In most 
places the so-called “depleted bottom” is practically bare. There is 
but a moderate supply of shells on the dense area and on the scatter- 
ing area close to it, but elsewhere the bed is deficient in this respect. 
It is stated that the inshore portions of the bed, on the depleted 
bottom along the Baylor line, produce fine single oysters, which in 
calm weather are picked up one by one and bring a high price in the 
markets. The survey did not disclose any quantity of such oysters. 
