OYSTER CULTURE IN AMERICA. 743 



statement of the magnitude of the supply used by the 

 planters of this State : 



" PLANTING SOUTHERN OYSTERS IN DELAWARE BAY. 

 There remains now to be considered the great business of 

 transplanting and maturing Southern oysters in the waters 

 off this shore. Though this stock is chiefly owned in 

 Philadelphia and operated by Pennsylvania, yet its consider- 

 ation belongs properly here, since the beds are wholly in 

 Delaware's waters. 



" The statistics I give in respect to this were furnished 

 me chiefly by Mr. J. C. Cleaver, collector of the Chesa- 

 peake and Delaware Canal Company at Chesapeake City, 

 Maryland, and refer to the last half of 1879 and the first 

 month of 1880, completing an ' oyster season.' 



" All the Southern oysters which are brought to Delaware 

 bay or to Philadelphia, both for planting and for immediate 

 consumption, come through this canal, which leads from 

 the Chesapeake. There may possibly be half a dozen out- 

 side trips made (all from Chincoteague island) in the course 

 of the year, but this is a small exception." 



" The vessels as a rule engaged in this traffic are '.wood- 

 droggers,' schooners of light draught, and able to carry 

 from 500 to 1500 bushels. During the planting season 

 they will average about 1300 bushels per load, but when 

 running direct to market, in winter, carry only 900 bushels, 

 the difference arising largely from an absence of any deck- 

 load in the latter case. The number of schooners thus 

 used varies from year to year ; but the number of trips 

 during the season reported upon by Mr. Cleaver was 868. 

 At $100 a trip, charter-pay, these schooners earned that 

 year, therefore, $86,800. Sometimes an even $100 is given 

 to make the trip, and sometimes a rate of about $10 a day 



