OYSTEE BEDS OF JAMES RIVER, VIRGINIA. 
71 
insignificant. For the purposes of this report it is considered to 
include four natural rocks, although the largest of these, for which 
no name was obtained from the oystermen, may be locally recog- 
nized by names for its constituents severally. The general condi- 
tion and extent of the bed are shown in the following table : 
Areas op Oyster Growth, Public Ground No. 1 Isle op Wight County. 
Name of oyster rock. 
Dense. 
Scatter- 
ing. 
Very scat- 
tering. 
Depleted. 
Total. 
Rock Wharf Shoals 
Acres. 
18 
45 
14 
4 
Acres. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Acres. 
0 
5 
3 
0 
Acres. 
8 
37 
2 
0 
A cres. 
26 
87 
19 
4 
Between Rock Wharf and Spindle Rock 
Spindle 
Days Point Shoal 
Total oyster area 
81 
0 
8 
47 
136 
589 
Total barren area . 
Total Baylor survey 
725 
The area of barren bottom as compared with the extent of the 
ground is relatively large, constituting about 81 per cent, and the 
depleted bottom, which is at present worthless and holds forth no 
promise of improvement, adds an additional 7 per cent to the wholly 
unproductive bottom. The area of dense growth, which is undoubt- 
edly productive, covers about 11 per cent of the whole, while the 
bottom bearing very scattered oysters, which is at present prac- 
tically incapable of yielding a living wage to the tonger, covers about 
1 per cent. 
The following table shows the estimated total content of oysters 
on the rocks at the end of August, 1909: 
Total Content of Oysters, Public Ground No. 1 Isle of Wight County. 
Name of rock. 
Dense. 
Scatter- 
ing. 
Very scat- 
tering. 
Depleted: 
Total. 
Rock Wharf Shoals 
Bushels. 
2, 520 
6, 300 
1,960 
664 
Bushels. 
Bushels. 
Bushels. 
88 i 
666 
24 
Bushels. 
2, 608 
7,196 
2,065 
664 
Between Rock Wharf Shoals and Spindle Rocks 
Spindle 
230 
81 
Days Point Shoal 
Total 
11,444 
311 
778 
12, 533 
The total content of the ground as a whole averages about 17 
bushels per acre. Practically all of this is borne by the small frac- 
tion of the bottom classed as dense, on which the average produc- 
tion is at the rate of about 141 bushels per acre, considerably less 
than on the areas of dense growth on the great beds across the 
channel. 
[ 
