THE OYSTER INDUSTRY. 553 



"Invested in oyster-boats, the summary is: 700 dredgers, at $1,500, $1,050,000; outfit of same, 

 $70,000; 550 scrapers, at $800, $440,000; 200 runners, at $1,500, $300,000; 1,825 canoes, at $100, 

 $182,500; total 3,275 $2,042,500." 



lu respect to oystering in Virginia waters (the preceding paragraphs, quoted from Mr. 

 Edmonds, all refer primarily to Maryland), I have given all needful details in the chapter on The 

 Virginia Trade. My summary for the yield of Virginia in 1880 was as follows: 



Packed in the State, 1,622,130 bushels; shipped out of the State in shell, 3,315,190 bushels; 

 used for local consumption in the cities of the State, 275,000 bushels ; used for local consumption 

 in the small towns and counties of the State, 1,625,000 bushels ; total, 6,837,320 bushels. 



The average value of these oysters from first hands would be about 27 cents a bushel, or a 

 sum total of $1,846,076.40. 



Nearly the whole catch of Maryland and Virginia oysters, not sold as seed, is devoted to the 

 " packing," either raw or cooked, which will be considered below on pages 559-5G2. Probably the 

 total amount sent to market in shell for immediate consumption in the several towns along both 

 shores will not exceed half a million bushels annually, and this forms an important item of daily 

 food, the year round, with all " tide-water" people. Baltimore is the greatest market. "In Balti- 

 more," says Mr. Edmonds, " the city trade is monopolized by a number of commission houses, which 

 handle all the oysters taken for local use, with the exception of the receipts by steamers. From 

 the books of these firms it was ascertained that the sales of oysters from September 1, 1879, to 

 May 1, 1880, for consumption in the city and suburbs, amounted to 793,680 bushels. Add to this 

 25,000 bushels received by steamers, and the total retail trade is found to be 818,680 bushels. The 

 average price paid for shucking raw oysters is 15 cents a gallon ; these, being all of fine quality, 

 will open a gallon to a bushel, and hence the amount paid for opening 818,680 bushels would be 

 $122,802. Estimating the average amount made by the shuckers at $6 a week, or $192 for the 

 season, it is seen that there are six hundred and forty men steadily employed for nearly eight 

 mouths of the year in opening oysters for local consumption in Baltimore. There is, in addition 

 to these, a large number of men who sell oysters around the streets ; others who rent a cellar room 

 and sell from there ; some engage in driving oyster-carts, and a few are employed only during the 

 oyster season in restaurants as extra help. As near as can be ascertained, the number of these 

 may be placed at five hundred, with wages and earnings amounting to $96,000. Of these eleven 

 hundred and forty men about eight hundred are negroes." 



In addition to its own stock, Baltimore and also Washington annually use a large quantity of 

 "fancy" oysters from northern cities. 



OYSTER TRADE OP PHILADELPHIA. Passing to Philadelphia, we find that city an oyster 

 market for a region entirely different in its conditions from the Chesapeake region, which extends 

 from Barnegat around to and including the whole of Delaware Bay. The transportation to the 

 city from New York and the Atlantic coast of New Jersey, and to some extent from the Delaware 

 Bay shore of the same State, is by rail, and amounted, in 18SO, to nearly 300,000 bushels, while 

 200,000 bushels more came from Baltimore and Chesapeake points by rail and steamer. By sail- 

 vessels from the eastern shore of Delaware Bay came about 1,500,000 bushels yearly, while the 

 western shore of the bay produces nearly another million. Lastly, in winter, about 250,000 bushels 

 are taken by sailing-vessels through the canal from the Chesapeake to Philadelphia, for immediate 

 use. A summation of the supplies from all these sources gives, as the total quantity annually 

 handled in Philadelphia, 2,680,000 bushels, or more than 800,000,000 oysters, worth, in round 

 numbers, not less than $2,500,000 at wholesale. 



But, of course, only a portion of these oysters are consumed within the limits of the city of 



