OYSTER-INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 311 



emptying into Chesapeake Bay, the expense of receiving the oysters is 

 not great, and they can be easily dispatched to their various destinations, 

 by means of the railroads which diverge in various directions from the 

 city. 



For about thirty years, Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, has been 

 the principal market from which the cities of the West have been sup- 

 plied with this article of food which every year has become more popular. 

 Yet, strange to say, it is only within the last few years that public atten- 

 tion has been turned to the commerce, or any mention made of it in the 

 statistics of the State. The only satisfactory document I could procure 

 upon the subject dates only back to 1856, when a summary article ap- 

 peared in the Baltimore American. 



" During the civil war all business matters were more or less deranged, 

 so that the information contained in this treatise relates only to the 

 condition of the oyster fisheries or trade as it was two years ago. 

 The facts given are, for the most part, taken from an excellent publica- 

 tion printed in New York, called the " Merchants' and Commercial Ee- 

 view." 



Besides the oysters consumed in the city, the transportation-houses 

 send into the interior oysters in the natural state, without shells, or 

 in cans, employing exactly the same processes as have been already 

 described.* 



Oysters in the shell, as well as out of the shell, are sent Jo the West 

 and Northwest. Canned and pickled oysters go for the most part in the 

 same direction ; while the others are sent to California, Australia, the 

 Antilles, and to a few markets in Europe, where the first of these prep- 

 arations are highly esteemed. 



The city of Saint Louis, Mo., is the center of the western commerce 

 for transportation into the interior. 



According to the official documents of the State of Maryland, for 

 1840, the oysters consumed by the trade at that time amounted to 710,- 

 000 bushels. 



During the years 1856 and 1857, September to May, inclusive, the sta- 

 tistics of the oyster-trade were as follows : 



Oysters in the sJiell : 



Bushels. 



To Cincinnati and Chicago 400, 000 



To other cities 400, 000 



Consumption in Baltimore „ 150, 000 



Total 950,000 



*Tke oysters required by the trade are obtained directly from the banks, or from 

 plantations on tho shores of Maryland and Virginia. Within the last few years they 

 have been brought in great numbers from the vicinity of Norfolk, and these are very 

 highly esteemed both for their size and their quality. The most important plantations 

 in Maryland are in the counties of Saint Mary's, Dorchester, Talbot, and Somerset : 

 in Virginia, in the counties of Northampton, Accomack, York, Gloucester, Norfolk, 

 Lancaster, and Middlesex. 



