OYSTER CULTURE IN AMERICA. 827 



safe to take about 50 per cent, from the beds, supposing 

 them to be in good condition. 



This is but an estimate, and may be an erroneous one, 

 but certainly it is not too small. It now remains to be 

 seen what number of oysters are actually removed from the 

 beds. I regret that statistics of the oyster trade in the 

 Sounds are not at hand for reference, and also that the 

 pressure of other work while I was in that locality prevented 

 me from obtaining them. Such observations as we were 

 able to make, however, will furnish a basis for a somewhat 

 rude estimate of the number of oysters and young taken off 

 the beds during the season. 



While in Crisfield Harbour, about the nth October, 

 we counted fifty-seven sail oyster dredgers. The number 

 of bushels carried by them was estimated .... and 

 th.e result for one day was found to be 2408 bushels. 



" The day had been a bad one for dredging, and but a 

 small number of dredgers had been at work, and they had 

 come into port much earlier than usual ; consequently, the 

 average and total number of oysters are below the usual 



figures Estimating the number of oysters to 



be between 150 or 200 (to a bushel) we have for the result 

 of one day's fishing from 361,200 to 481,600 oysters and 

 about 486,000 young. 



. The vessels were of different sizes and from 

 different localities, and were classified as sloops, schooners, 

 and buckeyes. In order to ascertain the number of bushels 

 to each vessel, the total number of bushels brought in 

 (2408) was divided by the number of sails (57), which would 

 give 42 bushels as the average to a sail. A closer estimate 

 is obtained from Table II., where the number of bushels 

 assigned to each craft is that given by their master. The 



