MASSACHUSETTS: BARNSTABLE DISTRICT. 237 



trade. Besides the citizens, however, many strangers came in and procured the privilege of 

 beddiug down imported oysters to fatten on the flats of this hospitable harbor. In 1841, Mr. Gould, 

 the couchologist, wrote that the whole trade at Wellfleet then employed thirty vessels of about 40 

 tons each, and the services of about one hundred and twenty men for three months of the year, 

 This yielded to the town a revenue of about $8,000 annually. 



"The process of 'bedding down' was as follows: Each proprietor of a space upon the flats 

 chartered the services of a vessel, in the latter part of the winter, to go to some specified oyster 

 ground and purchase a certain number of bushels, for which he gave the captain money. The 

 vessel was chartered at a round sum for the trip, or else was paid at a rate varying from 15 to 20 

 cents a bushel freight on the cargo. When the vessel arrived home she anchored in the distant 

 channel, and the oysters were unloaded into dories, fifty bushels to a dory. The dories then pro- 

 ceeded to the grounds, which had been already divided iuto rectangles a few rods square, by rows 

 of stakes, and deposited a load of fifty bushels in each rectangle or 'square.' In order that the 

 oysters might be distributed as evenly as possible over the bottom, the dory was rowed to the 

 center of a square, aud anchored at both ends. The dorymen then threw out the oysters with 

 shovels into all parts of the square. This was done when the water was high over the beds. When 

 the tide was out the oysters were redistributed with forks or 'spreading machines.' The similarity 

 of this proceedure to the seeding of a field is obvious, and sufficiently explains the phrase 'oyster- 

 planting.' It afforded occupation to a distinct class of men, who did it by contract, the ordinary 

 price being about 10 cents a bushel for placing them upon the beds. The season for bedding 

 began in February, as soon as there was a surety of no further danger of hard freezing, and con- 

 tinued until April, the ground chosen being the hard surface of the flats in the western portion of 

 the bay, where the beds would be left dry about two hours at each low tide. The oysters had very 

 little fresh water near them, and their growth was variable, seeming to depend on the weather, 

 but in what way, or just how it affected them, I could not learn. In a favorable season they grew 

 very rapidly, in respect to both shell and meat, so that the 100 bushels put down in April would 

 fill 300 bushel measures when taken up in October. The percentage of loss was always consider- 

 able, however, probably never less than one-quarter, and now aud then amounting to the whole 

 bed. Drifting sand, sudden frosts when the beds were exposed, disease, and active enemies were 

 the causes that operated against complete success. I could not obtain satisfactory information 

 concerning prices during the first quarter or half of the present century, and am inclined to believe 

 they did not differ much from the present rates, except that selling rates were uniformly higher, 

 and far more profit was realized than is now possible. Dr. Gould, describing the winter work in 

 his Invertebrates of Massachusetts, states that in the autumn the oysters are taken up, selected, 

 brought to market, and sold at wholesale for $1 per bushel, the cost of planting, attending, taking 

 up, &c., amounting to 20 cents per bushel. Thus a profit of 30 cents on a bushel, or about 40 per 

 cent, on the. cost, is realized; and the town of Wellfleet thereby realizes an income of about $8,000 

 annually. 



"It was asserted by citizens of Wellfleet, both to me and to Mr. True, that not until 1845 were 

 any oysters brought to Wellfleet from Virginia, and that the cause of their importation then was 

 the high price asked for 'seed,' as the oysters purchased iu the Somerset Eiver, in Connecticut, 

 and in New York, for bedding, were erroneously termed. William Dill is credited with being the 

 first captain engaged in the Chesapeake trade. I think, however, that there is an error here, for 

 Gould mentions iu his book that in 1840, 40,000 bushels were brought to Wellfleet annually from 

 Virginia, at a cost of $20,000. Nevertheless, it was not until about 1845 or 1850 that the business 

 began to confine itself to Virginia oysters aud a large business to be done. At its height, about 



