744 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



is paid, but it amounts substantially to the same thing. In 

 addition, the charterer pays the canal expenses, consisting 

 of entrance toll, towage, and dues of 85 cents a ton on 

 cargo, amounting in all to about $50. The canal thus 

 receives an annual revenue from this source of about 



$4340." 



"The schooners range in value from $1000 to 6000. 

 The owners pay the captain of such a schooner, who must 

 know all the little creeks and oyster-buying nooks along 

 the whole Chesapeake coast, and be a capable man at a 

 bargain for his employers, about $50 a month. The men 

 in the crews get $25. The provisions supplied by the 

 owners are said to be abundant and of good quality. 



" Among this fleet are about 25 ' role captains,' who own 

 their vessels entirely, hire their own crew, get cargoes from 

 the South with their own money, and plant on beds claimed 

 and prepared by themselves. Attending to their planta- 

 tions personally, they bring their cargoes to the market in 

 the fall, in their own schooners or sloops, and leave them 

 to be sold there on commission. They are thus both 

 planters and carriers. 



" During the fall and winter months most, if not all, 

 of the vessels go directly to the Philadelphia market, and 

 their cargoes enter into the immediate consumption of the 

 city. Sales are made from the hull of the schooner, without 

 unloading into a warehouse. The number of trips made 

 for this direct market consumption makes only about one- 

 fourth of the total recorded as passing through the canal. 

 Three-fourths of the oysters brought out of the Chesapeake 

 are intended to be planted, and find their destination in the 

 beds along the western shore of the bay. 



" When a load of oysters for planting arrives 

 from the South, the owner of the cargo sends on board the 



