564 



HISTOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



The use of the shells as a fertilizer is also an ancient practice. In the Canadian provinces the 

 remains of extinct oyster beds are dredged by huge machines made for the purpose, and spread 

 upon the lands under the name of mussel mud. Along Parnlico Sound, North Carolina, when the 

 weather becomes warm and there is no other employment for their boats, the fishermen rake up 

 boat-loads of rough "coon oysters" and carry them to the fanners up the rivers to be sold and 

 used as manure, for which from 3 to 5 cents a bushel is paid. In Florida and the Gulf States the 

 best farms and gardens are those located upon the shell mounds, where the finest trees grow ; and 

 in the Northern States these old heaps have long been resorted to by farmers as a store house of 

 top-dressing for their fields. The immense banks at Damariscotta, Me., are constantly utilized 

 for this purpose. The shells are first burned, and the remains of various rude kilns exist, one of 

 which greatly excited the antiquarians who first exhumed it, who were sure they had hit upon an 

 aboriginal, prehistoric home, until they found half a brick in the bottom. In fact almost the whole 

 of the lime now made from oyster-shells at the factories is converted into a fertilizer, in composition 

 with other manures, or unmixed. 



These and other minor utilizations are disappearing, however, along the northern coast, 

 through the increased value of the shells to spread on the bottom for the founding of new colo- 

 nies, as has been explained ; and before long, no doubt, nearly all the shells accumulated will be 

 saved by planters for this purpose, as a better economy than to sell them. 



10. STATISTICAL SUMMAKY. 



cul lulili's, in 1880, showing, l>if Stales, the persons employed, capital inrrnlul, and value of products in Hie in/iir 



industry. 



