58 Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners. 
With the exception of a barren area about one and one 
half miles in length in the vicinity of Point No Point, the 
entire twenty-two miles of shore line from the mouth of th 
Patuxent River to the mouth of the Potomac is paralleled 
by a belt of natural oyster bars having an average width of 
about one and one-half miles and aggregating a total area 0) 
14,484 acres. For convenience in description this belt has be 
divided by lines perpendicular to the shore into twelve natura 
oyster bars.’ The lines fixing the limits of the bars have bee 
more or less arbitrarily located but some of the area includ 
between the lines in each case is locally known by the names 
which have been given to the bar containing it as delineatec 
on the charts. q 
The results of the examinations made during the survey 
of the section show that nearly all of the area claimed to be 
natural oyster bar by the local assistant is natural bar accord 
ing to the standard adopted by the Commission. Deplete 
grounds, aggregating a total area of 3,500 acres, were found 1 i 
the following places: between Hog Point and Cedar Point, i 
Cedar Point Hollow, northwest of Tenacres bar, between the 
bars known as McKay and Fish Hawks Nest and the shor 
line, between Shaving Pile bar and the shore line and b 3 
tween Point Lookout bar and the shore line. These deplete 
grounds afford good opportunities for oyster planting, 
will be offered for lease. 
The barrenness of an extensive area in the vicinity of Poi 
No Point is due to the sandy character of the bottom and t 
its location in a place exposed to the unbroken violence ¢ 
storms. Materials which might be deposited on this bot om 
either naturally or artificially to serve as cultch for the a ‘ 
tachment of oyster spat are covered by the shifting sand bk 
fore an oyster colony of sufficient size to hold the bottom t 
gether can be formed. 
One of the peculiarities of the bars of this section is ha 
their inshore limits are not found at the usual place,—at ¢ 
near the six-foot depth curve,—but extend to, and in ma ny 
cases, beyond low water mark. This is to be accounted for 
by the fact that gravelly and stony materials compose muebl 
of the beach and the bottoms near shore, in this se 
These materials, kept clean by the action of the waves, offe 
most favorable surfaces for the attachment of spat. 
Fé 
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} 
1See table on page 66. 
