136 THE MOLLUSK FISHERIES 



paratively shallow. A pair of tongs is really a pair of long-handled 

 rakes, fastened together like a pair of shears. The pole, corresponding 

 to the blade of the shears, varies from 8 to 16 feet in length. The 

 rakes, some 2 to 2V2 feet broad, are so fitted to the end of the poles 

 that when extended by spreading the handles they rest upon the bottom 

 parallel to each other. These tongs are usually worked from skiffs 

 or flat-bottomed boats, the oystermen first separating the tips of the 

 handles and then bringing them together, thus causing a corresponding 

 movement of the two rakes, which with their 2-inch iron teeth gather 

 in all the intervening oysters. The tongs with their burden of oysters 

 are then lifted into the boat, emptied, and the process repeated. 



Dredging is a much faster and less laborious method of oystering 

 than tonging, and can be carried on over a much larger territory. 

 The oyster dredge consists of a bag of woven iron rings attached to 

 an iron framework. From each corner of the framework iron rods 

 extend, converging at a point some feet away. At this point the rope 

 is attached, by which the dredge is dragged from either a sail or 

 power boat. The blade, resting horizontally on the surface, is armed 

 with teeth which rake the oysters into the bag. When this bag, which 

 holds from 3 to 8 bushels, is full, the dredge is raised, usually by a 

 windlass worked by steam, gasolene or hand power, as the case may 

 be, its contents dumped out and the dredge lowered for another haul. 



Rakes, the third implement in general use, are not employed as 

 extensively as tongs or dredges, but are used in still water, where the 

 bottom is suitable. 



VIII. Marketing. — The " catch " as soon as it is dredged or tonged 

 is brought in boats to the oyster houses, where men with hatchets or 

 similar implements break apart the clustered oysters and cast aside 

 the empty shells, bits of rock, etc. Three different varieties of mar- 

 ketable oysters are usually sorted out, according to size: (1) large, (2) 

 medium and (3) small. The respective sizes vary somewhat with the 

 locality, demands of the market and the season; but the large oysters 

 commonly count about 900 to the barrel, the medium 1,000 or 'more, 

 while the small run 1,200 or over. 



The different sizes as they are sorted out are packed in barrels and 

 are then ready for shipment. The principal markets are of course 

 New York and Boston, though the demand farther inland is increasing, 

 and shipments to Chicago or places even farther west are frequently 

 made. 



General Statistics. 



The following facts concerning the oyster industry have been com- 

 piled from the written statements of the different oystermen. Com- 

 plete returns have not been received from Wareham, Barnstable, and 

 Falmouth, while possibly a few oystermen in the other towns have 

 been overlooked. Falmouth raises but few oysters for the market and 



