66 
OYSTER BEDS OF JAMES RIVER, VIRGINIA. 
about one-lialf, and on the very scattering areas not over one-sixth 
could be removed with profit. The depleted bottoms are worthless 
for their present product of market oysters. 
The yield per acre of bottom included within the Baylor lines is 
considerably greater than on the grounds previously described, the 
average being almost 10 bushels, 2 bushels less than the average of 
the entire public area of Virginia in 1904, and considerably more than 
the average reported by the Census Bureau in 1908. The average 
available product of the oyster rocks, excluding all barren bottom 
but not that which it depleted, is about 30 bushels per acre. The 
average of the dense area is about 88 bushels, of the scattering area 
34 bushels, and of the very scattering growth about 7 bushels per 
acre. The rocks in this ground are, on the whole, so far as present 
productiveness is concerned, in better condition than those across 
the river. The probable future productiveness of the beds, so far as 
the present existence of young oysters is concerned, is illustrated 
in the following table: 
Total Content of Young or Seed Oysters. Public Ground No. 1 Warwick 
County, Below Deep Creek. 
Name of rock. 
Dense. 
Scatter- 
ing. 
Very scat- 
tering. 
Depleted. 
Total. 
Browns Shoal 
Bushels. 
8,568 
1,188 
81,786 
12, 768 
2,736 
14, 728 
Bushels. 
6,248 
Bushels. 
2,376 
992 
19,980 
10,300 
23,625 
1,080 
Bushels. 
1,130 
Bushels. 
18, 322 
2,180 
115, 428 
53,288 
44,634 
18, 564 
Gun 
Kettle Hole 
13,662 
20,060 
13,317 
Thomas Point 
10, 160 
4,956 
2,756 
Blunt Point 
White Shoal 
Total 
121, 774 
53,287 
58,353 
19,002 
252, 416 
The exhibit here is much more favorable than on the rocks included 
in the grounds previously described, the average growth of young 
oysters on the dense and very scattering areas being over double that 
on the beds across the river, while that on the scattering area is about 
35 per cent greater. 
Practically everywhere on the areas of dense and scattered growth 
there is a prolific growth of young oysters and an abundance of clean 
shells, and there is no present prospect of the failure of these areas to 
continue to produce marketable oysters under ordinary conditions and 
with a reasonable enforcement of the laws. On the areas of very 
scattering growth the conditions are mixed, some places being well 
insured against the future and others being decidedly deficient in both 
young growth and clean shells. On Browns Shoal Rocks there is, with 
the exception of a few places, an abundance of shells; but there are 
only two or three patches where there is a supply of small oysters ample 
to replace the present market growth. On Kettle Hole Rock the 
conditions are good practically everywhere, but on Thomas Point and 
