University of Virginia Library

RATIO BETWEEN LIVING OYSTERS AND DEAD SHELLS.

When the oysters are culled upon the beds where
they are caught, the dead shells are thrown back, and
the oysters upon a bed which has been overworked
will therefore form a smaller part of the total contents
of the dredge than they will upon a more prosperous
and valuable bed. In a dredge which has been hauled
over an unexhausted bed, the living oysters are many
and the shells are few, while the dredge brings up
from an exhausted bed a great mass of rubbish, which
must be lifted and handled in order to obtain a few
oysters.

The ratio between the living oysters and the dead
shells therefore furnishes us with a means for deciding
whether a bed is deteriorating or not. This method
of estimating the condition of the beds is a very rough
one, and the evidence is not of much value when only
a single bed is examined. The dead shells are swept
into the channel in some places, and covered up by
sand or mud in others, so that the dredge may come
up filled with shells when it happens to strike a bed
where they have been swept together, and in another
case, where most of the shells are buried, it may contain
few shells. If the dredge is heavy and is dragged
with a long line, it may dig into the mud and become
filled with old shells, where another dredge, or the
same dredge dragged in a different way, may contain
few or none. The contents of the dredge are determined
by so many accidents that single observations
of the ratio between shells and oysters are of little
value, but the case is different where a great number

of dredgings are made. In 1876 Mr. Otto Lugger
visited most of our beds, and measured the quantity
of shells and of oysters obtained from each. As he
made a great number of observations, his results give
us a means of ascertaining the average ratio in 1876.
His results, obtained by the examination of twenty
beds, show that in 1876 the dredge brought up 368/100
bushels of oysters for each bushel of shells. In 1878
and 1879 Lieut. Winslow examined in the same way
seventeen beds in Tangier Sound, and found that only
196/100 bushels of oysters were obtained for each bushel
of shells.

In November, 1882, we examined fourteen beds in
this way, and found that the average had fallen from
368/100 in 1876 and 196/100 in 1879 to 131/100 bushels in
1882. Thirty-two beds were examined in the same
way in the summer of 1883, and nearly the same
ratio was obtained, there being 1⅖ bushels of living
oysters for each bushel of dead shells.

The results of this examination are given in full in
the following table.

Table No. 2.—To Show the Number of Bushels of Oysters
to Each Bushel of Dead Shells.

                                                                                                   

	1876. Lugger.	1879. Winslow.	1882.	1883.
Bodkin	1.22		.14	.46
Sandy Point			.14	3.
Hackett's Point			1.37	4.
Swan Point	1.85		8.	2.
Chester River				1.8
Cornfield Creek				.89
Thomas' Point	3.			3.
Tally's				1.16
Scull Hall				4.
Chink Point				1.57
Cook's Point				1.33
Benoni's Point				1.25
Castlehaven				.17
Horn Point				6
Eastern Bay				2.
Kent Point	1.5			2.
Tilghman's Point				.66
South River				.33
Shackel's Point				.33
Duvall's Bar				.66
Brewer's Point				2.5
Purdy's Point				1.
Three Sisters				1.5
Sharp's Island				.28
Holland Point	3.			.18
Plum Point	4.			4.
Little Cove Point	1.85			1.
Hog Island	2.33			.5
Hawk's Nest				.79
Broom's Island				.52
Kent Island	2.33		1.	.25
Piney Island	2.33	1.15	.21
Fishing Bay	9.		.28
Hooper's Strait	5.6		2.85
James' Point	4.		2.
Sharp's Island	5.6		.83
Poplar Island	5.6		.57
No Point Bar			.1
Great Rock		.41	.14
Turtle Egg Rock		1.02	.75
Great Fox Island	4.
South Marsh Island	5.6
St. Michael's	5.6
Bozman's Flats	2.33
Roaring Point	3.
In 1876 Lugger found as the average for twenty beds 3.682 bushels of oysters for each bushel of shells.
In 1879 Winslow found as the average from seventeen beds 1.962 bushels of oysters for each bushel of shells.
In 1882 we found as the average for fourteen beds 1.31 bushels of oysters for each bushel of shells.
In 1883 we found as the average for thirty-one beds 1.4-10 bushels of oysters for each bushel of shells.

This table shows that while it is necessary, in 1883,
to handle 161 bushels of oysters and shells to obtain
100 bushels of oysters, it was necessary to handle only
151 bushels in 1879 and only 127 bushels in 1876.

This evidence, in connection with that which has
been given in Table 1, seems to prove that the whole
oyster area of our State is being rapidly exhausted.