304 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



These establishments, called oyster-boats in New York, are eleven in 

 number at Catharine Market, and twenty-three in number at the foot of 

 Spriug street. They are generally furnished with two doors, one com- 

 municating with the wharf, the other opposite the first, and opening 

 upon a small platform at the back of the house. This arrangement is 

 for the convenience of the fishermen, who are thus enabled to discharge 

 their cargoes immediately into the oyster-boat, labor as well as time be- 

 ing thus saved. 



These floating houses possess one great advantage, which is, that the 

 oysters can be preserved in them alive for several days during the 

 winter season, however low the temperature may be ; and also in sum- 

 mer during the greatest heat, since the part under water is always cool. 



The oysters, or clams, placed in baskets containing about a bushel, 

 are stored in the cellar and attic of the oyster-boat. In the room are 

 placed only specimens of the different qualities for sale, from which 



samples purchasers make their choice. Here, too, all the packing 

 which the necessities of the trade require is done. 



Although there are always a great many oysters in these establish- 

 ments, they never remain more than a few days, and arrangements are 

 made with the plantations for constant and regular supplies. The num- 

 ber of boats of all kinds employed by the merchants and the planters 

 of the bay, including those engaged in fishing for the oysters and clams 7 

 is estimated at 15,000. 



Oyster-boats are obliged to pay rent for the place they occupy along 

 the wharves. 



The principal places for the retail sale of the mollusk are Fulton Mar- 

 ket and Washington Market. 



Fulton Market, on the East River, from which it is separated only by 

 the width of the wharf, is a large, ungainly establishment, where all 

 the various branches of the trade in comestibles are united. There is 

 some regularity in the disposition of stalls, but nothing else that can 

 compare with the well-ordered arrangements of the large markets of 

 Paris, or other cities of France. The Americans are a free and easy 

 people, but their love of liberty sometimes degenerates into lawless- 

 ness. 



There are several persons in Fulton Market engaged in selling shell- 

 fish, who, notwithstanding their contracted quarters, keep a kind of 

 restaurant, which it is very interesting to visit about noon, when mer- 

 chants and workmen come from all quarters for their dinner. They are 

 popular establishments in every sense of the word, and oysters, cooked 

 in various ways, constitute almost the entire repast. 



In front of the counters of these traders are large sheet-iron furnaces, 

 usually rectangular, about six feet long, six feet high, and three feet wide. 

 The upper part serving as areceptable for smoke is terminated by a pipe, 

 which communicates with the outer air. The lower part, lined with bricks, 

 holds a large quantity of coal, by means of which a hot fire is sustained. 



