554 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



Philadelphia. A large part is distributed widely throughout a region which includes the Delaware 

 Valley, the State of Pennsylvania, and to some extent the West, competing in the shell-trade with 

 New York and Baltimore. Philadelphia has no packing establishments, and ships very few opened 

 oysters. 



The total wholesale trade of Philadelphia is now divided, so far as can be ascertained, among 

 about fifty firms. Most of these dealers are also planters, furnishing the capital with which their 

 partners plant upon ground outside of Pennsylvania. A large part of all the floating and shore- 

 property credited to the shores of Delaware Bay, and estimated in a preceding chapter, is really 

 owned, therefore, in Philadelphia ; perhaps a million dollars is invested in the oyster business in 

 the city itself apart from this outside capital and liabilities. 



Dealings in oysters in Philadelphia are chiefly carried on at the foot of Spruce street, at the 

 foot of Vine street, and at the Brown street wharves. In each case the locality is determined by 

 the presence of a large provision-market, and the business in general fishing centers near it. At 

 Brown street there is an association of the owners of boats selling there for mutual protection on 

 questions of wharfage and the like. Most of the business is done at Spruce street, where the Jersey 

 boats chiefly go, and where some of the heaviest dealers have their offices. Estimates as accurate 

 as possible give from three hundred to three hundred and fifty families supported by the whole- 

 sale business in the city, and between three and four thousand persons who make their living out 

 of the retail trade. 



THE NEW YORK MAEKET. The common market for all oysters grown in New Jersey north 

 of Barnegat, in New York Bay, on Staten and Long Islands, and in Connecticut as far east as 

 Norwalk, is the city of New York, and the receipts, not only, but the greater part of the deliv- 

 eries at this center are of oysters in the shell. In my monograph I gave many interesting reminis- 

 cences of the early days of the oyster trade in this region, which I have not the space to repeat. 



Most of the New York oyster firms are of long standing, and the same names appear which 

 are conspicuous in the oyster annals of City Islam 1 , and Stateu Island, for these two localities have 

 supplied the most of them. Van Name, Houseman, Silsbee, Wright, Burbank, Boyle, Frazer, 

 Wogloni, Decker, and others are examples. Many of the gentlemen now conducting the business 

 under these names only succeeded their fathers and grandfathers, who established the trade they 

 enjoy. The growth of the opportunities of business, however, has been very rapid, and has 

 brought in many new men. From being (as it was a century ago in New York) the common food 

 of the poor man, so plenteous and vulgar that no feast ever saw its name upon the menu, the oyster 

 become only a luxury for the well-to-do, and the prime feature of holiday banquets. Recovering 

 from the scarcity which had brought this change about, by means of the artificial cultivation of 

 immense quantities, oysters a second time have become abundant as an article of food, enjoyed 

 alike by rich and poor. Those who live in the interior or abroad can hardly appreciate how exten- 

 sive is the demand and supply in the coast cities. " Oysters pickled, stewed, baked, roasted, 

 fried, and scalloped ; oysters -nade into soups, patties, and puddings; oysters with condiments 

 and without condiments; oysters for breakfast, dinner, and supper; oysters without stint or limit, 

 fresh as the pure air, and almost as abundant, are daily offered to the palates of the Mauhatta- 

 nese, and appreciated with all the gratitude which such a bounty of nature ought to inspire." 



Formerly the regular markets, especially Catherine market, were the trading places in shell- 

 fish as well as other edibles; but for the lasD twenty years the wholesale oyster business in New 

 York has been confined almost exclusively to two localities, the trades of which are to a certain 

 extent distinct. One of these centers is at the foot of Broome street, East River, and the other at 

 the foot of West Tenth street, North River, nearly opposite. The method of business at each is 



