888 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



average of about thirty million bushels of oysters for mar- 

 ket ; this is about nine to twelve billions of oysters, since 

 there are from three to four thousand oysters in a bushel. 

 In 1859 the number of oysters sold amounted to from six 

 to eight billions. In 1867 there were over 10,000 men 

 employed in the oyster trade in Baltimore. The yearly 

 capital employed in this business in New York was, about 

 1870, over $8,000,000. (h) 



In America the oyster is an institution of great import- 

 ance. On the sea-board of that vast continent they are 



j 



found in natural beds of wonderful extent, and are distri- 

 buted by means of railways and steamboats throughout the 

 cities and villages of even the far inland districts. Numer- 

 ous as are the shell-fish shops of London, they are but as 

 one in ten when compared with the oyster-houses of New 

 York, in which city oyster-eating appears to be almost the 

 sole business of life, so many people are to be found 

 indulging in that pleasure. The custom in America is to 

 have the oysters cooked, and this culinary process is 

 accomplished in a variety of ways ; the mollusc being 

 stewed, fried, or roasted, according to taste. They may 

 be had cooked in about twenty different ways, in any of 

 the well-known oyster taverns of New York, at a few 

 minutes' notice. The great market for oysters in America 

 is the city of Baltimore, in Maryland, where it is not 

 uncommon for one or two firms each to " can" a million 

 bushels in one year ! Immense numbers of these " canned" 

 oysters are dispatched all over the States, to the prairies of 

 the far west, to the cities of New Mexico, to the military 

 forts of the great American desert, to the restaurants of 

 Honolulu, and to the miners searching for gold on the 



(h) " The Oyster and Oyster Culture," p. 60. 



