OYSTER-INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 303 



require, owing to the difficulty of obtaining precise information, as well as 

 the constant repetition of similar statements, would make the subject very 

 tedious to the reader. I have therefore preferred to confine my remarks 

 to those cities of the Northern States in which this industry has reached 

 its greatest importance, as a sufficiently approximate estimate can thus 

 be obtained of its valuable addition to the resources of public alimenta- 

 tion. These cities, which I have had occasion to mention several times 

 in the course of this treatise, are New York, Fair Haven, Boston, and 

 Baltimore. They alone monopolize, in consumption and transportation 

 into the interior, more than half the entire commerce in oysters of the 

 entire United States. 



New York. — New York, the rich and populous commercial metropolis 

 of the United States, contains to-day more than a million of inhabitants, 

 including the city of Brooklyn, which may be considered only one of its 

 suburbs. Nowhere in America is the consumption of oysters so great 

 as in this city. As I have already stated, the Merchants' Magazine esti- 

 mated it at 6,950,000 bushels annually; that is to say, 19,000 bushels a 

 day, on an average. 



The culture of the oyster is carried on to a great extent in the vicinity 

 of New York, partly on account of the excellent grounds afforded by the 

 bay and neighboring waters, and partly from the necessity the dealers 

 experience of having large depots for these mollusks near at hand, to 

 supply the daily needs of the inhabitants. 



The most celebrated plantations are situated, on the one hand, on the 

 shores of Staten Island and New Jersey, and, on the other, on the coast 

 of Long Island and in the arm of the sea known as East Eiver, in which 

 there are innumerable small bays and creeks in a most favorable condi- 

 tion for such purposes. 



The two most important markets for the wholesale trade in these 

 mollusks are Catharine Market, on the East Eiver, and another at the 

 foot of Spring street, on the Hudson Eiver. As to the retail sales, they 

 are made in all the markets of the city indiscriminately, in the oyster- 

 houses, and in markets intended especially for the sale of fish. 



The establishments at Catharine Market and at the foot of Spring 

 street are floating houses, constructed on rafts, generally one story, but 

 sometimes two, in height, and ornamented more or less elaborately. 

 These houses are generally moored together, and kept in communica- 

 tion with the wharf by means of a swing bridge, which rises and falls 

 with the tide. They are usually about 15 yards long by 10 wide, and 

 are divided into three distinct compartments. 



1. The part entered from the bridge, which constitutes the only room 

 in the house. 



2. That which I will call the cellar, which is under water, and extends 

 from the platform of the room to the bottom of the raft. 



3d. The attic, which is formed at the top of the house by a ceiling 

 about two yards and a half above the floor of the room. 



