OYSTER CULTURE IN AMERICA. 733 



. . . . " The Middle States have some $4,871,000 

 of capital embarked in the fisheries, employ over 19,000 

 persons, and return a gross income of nearly $9,000,000. 



" The Southern Atlantic States have invested over 

 $8,000,000 of capital, employ 57,000 persons, and collect 

 a gross income of $9,562,000. 



" It will be noticed that while the Southern fisheries 

 have nearly twice the capital invested, and employ three 

 times as many persons as the Middle States, yet the income 

 returned is only one-eighteenth more than that of their 

 Northern competitors. 



" The gross income of the oyster fishery in the Middle 

 States is 2 04 per cent, of the invested capital, while in the 

 Southern States it is only 94 per cent. 



" To sum up this distressing exhibit, statistics show that 

 one oyster from the Middle States is worth four from the 

 South ; that to get these four oysters, or one for that 

 matter, the Southern fishery uses from two to three times 

 as many men as their neighbours and rivals ; and that not- 

 withstanding the immense yield of the Southern fishery, it 

 pays not half so much in gross income as that of the 

 Middle States, and that out of this must come the wages of 

 double the number of employees." 



THE CAUSE OF THE EXHAUSTION OF THE BEDS. 



. We state then, in capital letters, that our 

 beds are in danger, 



BECAUSE THE DEMAND HAS OUTGROWN THE SUPPLY. 



There are only two possible remedies. Either we 

 must diminish the demand by killing the packing industry 

 which has created it, or we must increase by artificial 

 means the natural supply of oysters. 



. . . . The tongmen know that most of the 

 oysters have been taken away by the dredgers, and they 



