30 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Boston oyster dealers ajvd oyster-men. — It is not ea.sy to get at the exact number of persons in Boston 

 ■who derive their daily support from the oyster-business. The hired help of the wholesale dealers amounts to about 125 

 persons the year round, with the addition of about 250 more who are engaged with greater or less steadiness to " shucl^" 

 during the colder half of the year. Tlie majority of these persons are married; and I believe that, including the 

 dealers themselves, to multiply by four in each case would fairly estimate the number of souls represented — that is, 

 the mouths fed. There are, then, in this wholesale trade, deriving their whole sup^iort, about 500 persons ; deriving 

 one-half their support, about 1,000 persons. 



It is asserted that there are about 1,000 retail-shops, fish-markets, hotels, and restaurants in the city where 

 oysters form a regular part of the sales. I was unable to verify this, but am inclined to believe it rather under 

 than over the actual number. It would be a low estimate to say, that an average of one family of &Ye persons in 

 each case is supported by the molluscan share of the business, which would add 5,000 persons to the 750 in the 

 wholesale department, and give a total of 5,750 persons in Boston estimated to derive their living chiefly out of the 

 oyster and clam. Most of the wholesalers run restaurants and lunch-counters. The wages paid vary with 

 the kind of employment and the employer, all the way from $4 to $25k. per week. The lowest rates are paid 

 to the girls in the restaurant-kitchens, who get from $3 to $5 per week and their board, and to the waiters 

 in the restaurants, who receive about $8 a week and board. The men who pack, attend to shipments and delivery 

 of orders, who aid in bedding, and do the heavy work of the establishment, will average from $12 to $15 a week. 

 The large addition employed between September and May are "openers" or "shuckers", who are paid by the solid 

 gallon, and work only when there are oysters to be opened. They are, as a rule, a rough, ignorant class of men. 

 In summer they do ordinary laboring jobs, like working on the streets and carrying hods. Their pay has been a 

 shilling (17 cents) a gallon for some years, but last season (l878-'79) 18 and occasionally 20 cents was paid; and in 

 consequence of a strike on their part it is expected that 20 cents will be the ruling price in 1879-80. It is rare that 

 they earn more than 810 a week, and often not half that. The largest day's work at opening oysters that I could 

 learn of was jierfoi-med several years ago by a man in Atwood & Bacon's employ, who opened 45 gallons between 

 7.30 a. m. and 10.30 p. m.; but this was "liquor" measurement, and he got only 10 cents a gallon for it. Most of 

 the openers are married and have large families. 



Prices. — The cost (total, delivered) and selling prices of the various grades of oysters in Boston, are no\f 

 about as follows, in 1879 : 



In Shell (per tMs/icH: 



Coat. Sell for. 



From Virginia, in cargo |0 30 to $0 40 



Virginia "plants" 50 to 60 



Bags (common) -- --. 50 to 55 



Bags (selected) 90 to 95 



Lynnhaveu (Virginia fancy) 2 00 to 3 00 



Monument Eiver 1 40 to 1 GO |2 25 to $2 50 



Othcrnatives 95 to 120 



Providence rivers 50 to 60 



Opened (;;«?• gallon): 



From Norfolk (common) 55 to 60 60 to 65 



From Norfolk (superior) 00 to 65 75 to 90 



The dealers would feel satisfied with 20 per cent, of profit, but do not get it. Six or seven cents a bushel and 

 five cents a gallon is the usual advance. 



Disposition of the oystek-shells. — Subsidiary to the oyster-business in Boston, is the disposal of the 

 empty shells. These are used somewhat for filling in, particularly along the Atlantic-avenue wharves, and are 

 largely consumed by the gaslight companies to be burned into lime for purifying their gas. In addition to this 

 there are two pulverizing establishments in East Boston that take large quantities. The shells are gathered for 

 them by carters and boys of every grade, at odd times, from the saloons, the proprietors of which are glad to get 

 rid of them, and taken to the factories, a few barrels at a time. The factories pay 8 cents a barrel, and often men 

 are thus able to profitably employ their leisure. The shells are put into a crusher and then through bolts, and 

 are thus ground into small fragments, from which the dust is sifted. The machinery employed is precisely that used 

 for crushing bones, etc. There is a strong prejudice against the presence of any oyster-shell in the manufactured 

 fertilizers, strange to say, and the broken shell finds a market only as food for poultry in place of fine gravel. The 

 price is one-quarter of a cent a pound, and a barrel will weigh about 275 pounds. About 500 barrels, valued at 

 $375, are sold annually by these factories to the henneries near Boston, and an occasional barrel of the finer grade 

 is sold to the biid stores, to be used in "sanding" the floors of cages. 



