MARYLAND: OYSTER INDUSTRY. 



445 



C, 459,292, which required 25,546,780 tin cans and 929,014 wooden cases. The value of the oysters 

 packed, including shucking, cans, &c., was $3,517,349. For the tin cans $794,919 was paid, and 

 for the wooden cases $102,622. 



Next to Baltimore, Crisfield is the most important packing point in the State. Had the oyster- 

 beds in the vicinity of Crisfield not been so greatly depleted, I think the trade at that city would 

 have increased much more rapidly than it has. Crisfield is literally built upon oysters, or rather 

 oyster shells, almost the entire space now occupied by the business part of the city having been 

 under water. The shells from the packing-houses have been utilized to make new ground, and 

 gradually the city has pushed out nearly half a mile into the bay. At the present time some of 

 the houses are built on piles, and are entirely surrounded by water, having no means of communi- 

 cation with the land except by boats. 



From the books of the ninety-eight oyster-packing firms of Maryland, the following table has 

 been compiled, showing the amount of business done at each city from September 1, 1879, to May 

 1, 1880: 



Statistics of oyster-packing in Maryland for the season of 1879-'80. 



Baltimore is the only place where tin cans and wooden cases are used to any extent, shipments 

 from other cities being made almost exclusively in bulk in barrels, half-barrels, and kegs. 



As shown by the table, there are 6,179 males and 2,460 females employed in oyster-shucking 

 in Maryland. During the season they received as wages $777,779, this being an average of only 

 $90.06. Very few of the shuckers are regularly at work, and while in one week an expert hand 

 may make from $8 to $15, during the next week he may be idle. Of the 6,179 males, nearly all of 

 whom are employed in the raw trade, about three-fourths are negroes, the majority of them being 

 comparatively steady workmen, while the whites are more generally disposed to be idle and intem- 

 perate. The few whites in the business are generally of a very low class of society. Within the 

 past year a few females have essayed to shuck raw oysters, but their number is still very small, 



