THE OYSTER-INDUSTRY. 35 



The cost of the cargo-oysters is about the same in all respects as at Boston, and the business is similarly 

 conducted. The cost, in Portland, per bushel, of oysters delivered in the warehouse, then, sums up as follows, at 

 an average : 



1869 to 1872 '. 50 cents. 



1872 to 1875 45cent8. 



1876 to 1879 35 cents. 



The selling price for oysters in the shell has ranged fi'om a dollar (ten years ago) down to 55 cents at present. 

 This is in winter; in summer it often reaches and exceeds $1 50 a bushel. This increase of price in summer is due 

 to the fact that no oysters can then be got in Virginia, where the law enforces a cessation of raking, and to the 

 extra expense entailed by "bedding". 



As the weather begins to get warm in the spring, all the surplusage of each cargo which each dealer can spare, 

 is sent about five miles down Casco bay in large, open boats, and dumped overboard upon the flats for summer- 

 keeping. These oysters improve in quality, fatten up, and the shells add a " feather edge", often of remarkable size. 

 It is calculated that one-fourth at least of these will perish, while the increase in value is only from 20 to 25 cents 

 more than when they were put down. In consequence, the practice has fallen into disrepute, and only one 

 merchant now beds extensively. 



That there has been no growth in the business of importing and selling cargo-oysters commensurate with the 

 growing population and cultivated palates of the region tributary to Portland, is acknowledged. The late 

 depression in prosperity has made itself felt here, since the oyster ranks among luxuries. Neither so large prices, 

 nor, proportionately, so wide profits, can now be obtained. This is ascribed by all dealers to the new fashion of 

 buying oysters already opened in ISTorfolk and elsewhere in the South and bringing them here in barrels and cans. 



The transactions in this branch of the trade (which must be added to the former estimates) amount to about 

 $1,000 a week for, say, four months. A large part of this stock is supplied at second hand from Boston. Here, 

 as elsewhere, there are two opinions as to the real profit of dealing in this opened " barrel " stock. 



The number of persons directly supported by the wholesale oyster-trade in Portland is not large, numbering 

 between 40 and 50 families the year round, and half as much occasional help in addition in winter, to assist in 

 oijening new cargoes arriving. 



The wages paid to men employed about the establishments vary from $S. to $18 a week, and to girls in the 

 kitchen— for each of the wholesale houses has a lunch-room attached — about $4 a week. They also receive their 

 board. Those who open the oysters are here called " shuckers". They receive from 15 to 20 cents a gallon for their 

 work, and are able to make from $7 to $12 a week as long as work lasts. Formerly many more shuckers were 

 employed than at present. 



The vessels employed in carrying the oysters are mackerel-schooners clearing from Cape Cod ports. They 

 spend the summer in fishing and the winter in this trade. In 1878, the Mary Steele, Nathan Cleaves, Mary Whorf, 

 and H. E. Willard were engaged. An average load is about 3,000 bushels, and a voyage in March has been made 

 in ten days, but the usual time is from three to four weeks. 



That in ancient times this locality was tenanted by oysters of the same race as those which lived in Damariscotta 

 and Sheepscot waters, and have survived to the present day in the latter stream, is shown by the discovery of 

 buried beds of shells, as has already been pointed out and commented upon. 



Statistical recapitulation for Portland: 



Number of wholesale-dealers • • -- * 



Total number of families supported — 10" 



Total number of families partly supported - --- 40 



Annual sales of— 



II. Chesapeakes bushels.. 75,000 



Value of same $50,000 



in. Fancy stock bushels.. 5,000 



Value of same $6,000 



IV. Value of Baltimore and Norfolk "opened stock" -- $15,000 



Total value of oysters sold annually . . • • $71,000 



14. THE NATUEAL BEDS OF SHEEPSCOT BEIDGE, MAINE. 



Native oysters in Sheepscot river. — Four miles west of Damariscotta and Newcastle, in Lincoln county, 

 Maine, is a small bed of living oysters and evidences of a greater number in the past. The Sheepscot river flows 

 into the head of one of the inlets from the sea with which this rugged coast is filled. At the village of Sheepscot 

 Bridge (one of the oldest communities in the United States, having been settled first by the Dutch in 1518) another 

 little stream enters, known as Dyer's river. A quarter of a mile below the confluence of these streams is a cataract, 

 and below this the widening expanse of one of the most beautiful of Maine's fiords. 



From just below the falls (where there are some mills) to a point about three miles above, oysters were once 



