62 THE FISHERIES UF THE UNITED STATES. 



Tlie maritime ground on which they are estahlished is partially exposed at low tide. In some cases, however, the plantations are 

 constantly submerged, and are at a depth varying from 1 to 6 feet, when the water is lowest. The soil is formed of sand and mud, 

 mingled with sea-weed, and the stratum of mud, upon which the oysters rest, is about three inches thick. 



The spectacle presented ou entering the harbor is most curious. As far as the eye can see, the bay is covered with myriads of branches, 

 waving in the wiud, or swayed by the force of the currents. It looks as if a forest were submerged, the toi>s of the trees only rising above 

 the surface of the water. 



At certain distances on the plantations, large boats are anchored or moored to posts, having a small house built upon them for the 

 accommodation of the men appointed to watch the grounds. They are four in number. The wages of these guardians of the property 

 amount to about §30 a month, aud are paid by the association of planters. This system of surveillance is indispensable, since most of the 

 plantations are at a distance from the harbor, and might be invaded with impunity, especially at night. 



About iive huudred men are employed in planting oysters in the spring, and in gathering them in the proper season to sujjply the 

 necessities of commerce. 



The New Haven banks have a very high reputation, and the number of bushels plauted annually is estimated ati 250,000. 



The establishments engaged in the transportation-business are mostly at Fair Haven, a charming village, beautifully situated. Some 

 are at Oyster Point, ou the western part of the bay. At Fair Haven the Quine])iae is abont a mile and a half wide,* and is protected from 

 the winds on the south and east by a chain of wooded hills, lying iiarallel with its course. It forms a beautiful smooth sheet of water, 

 until its entrance into the bay, where the currents are very strong, but not sufficiently so to disturb the plantations established in the 

 bed of the river. Some of the dealers, before using the oysters, deposit them for two or three days in the Quinepiac, the saltish water 

 giving the flesh a better appearance. 



The establishments of the dealers are ou both sides of the river, and many of them are built partly in the water, in order that the 

 fishermen may discharge their cargoes with greater ease. 



The dealers send raw oysters away in small wooden barrels, called kegs, or iu tiu cans, containing about a quarter of a gallon. During 

 tlie winter, wooden barrels are considered a sufficient protection ; but in warm weather, and when the mollusks are to be sent to a distance, 

 tin boxes are used exclusively. The work of packing is accomplished in the same building where the oysters are shelled, or in one near 

 at hand ; and whatever may be the receptacle used, it must contain only a quarter of its capacity of juice. A tinner is employed iu each 

 establishment to close the cases, by soldering a small round piece of tiu over the opening. The cases are then iilaced iu a refrigerator, 

 where they remain until sent to the railroad. When dispatched to dist.ant cities, those of the West for instance, the cases are inclosed iu 

 a box of i)ine wood containing about a dozen. These are tightly jjacked, and a space is left, in the middle of the box for the reception of 

 a piece of ice, which preserves the oysters until they reach their destination. 



The number of barrels and boxes or cases required annually, at Fair Haven, is so great that two large manufactories have been 

 established for the manufacture of these articles, and they employ about one hundred and fifty persons. That for the making of kegs uses 

 steam as a motive power. Everything in the establishment is done by machinery. One machine cuts out the staves, a second the bottom; 

 others pierce the holes, and form the plugs. The kegs, at wholesale, bring the following prices: Kegs containing a gallon, ifl 08 a dozen; 

 kegs containing a half-gallon, 94 cents a dozen. Tin cases are worth $b 50 a hundred. 



Oysters \\ ithout the shell are di\ ided into two classes — those of large size selling for twenty cents a gallou more than the others. 

 They sell at the rate of $3 for half a dozen cases, each of which contains from seventy to one hundred mollusks. 



The Fair Haven oyster-trade in 1857. — A very careful account of the business, as it seems to me, was 

 printed in tbe New York Tribtme of January 9, 1857, access to wLich I owe to tlie Liberality of Mr. Tbomas F. DeV^oe, 

 of New York. It says that 80 vessels were then bringing oysters to Fair Haven. They were mainly schooners of 

 2,000 to 4,500 bushels capacity, and were generally .owned iu Fair Haven, but many additional ones were 

 occasionally chartered. The capital invested there was considered little short of $1,000,000. 



Describing the village aud its methods duriug the busy season, this article continues : 



There are the openers, the washers, the measurers, the fillers, the packers, etc., each of which performs only the duties pertaining to 

 its own division. At this season of the year (Jauuary) few of the oysters are " plauted", but are generally taken directly from the vessel 

 to the places occupied by the openers, who form a large number of operatives, and are composed of females and boys, who earn from |i5 to f9 

 per week. An expert, at this branch will open 100 (juarts per day, but the average is imt perhaps over 65 (juarts. The standard i)riee is, 

 I think, 2i cents jier quart. This work gives employment to many hundreds, aud much of the work is i)erformcd at jjrivate dwellings, 

 thus aliordiug opportunity for labor to many who cannot go into a general workshop. The oysters, as they come from the vessel, are 

 heaped upon the center of the room, the operators occupying the wall-sides. Each ijcrson has before him a small desk or platform, some 

 3 feet in height, on which is placed, as occasion requires, about half a bushel of oysters, from which the opener takes his supply. On the 

 stand is a small anvil, ou which, with a small hammer, the edge of the shell is broken. The operative is provided with a knife and hammer, 

 both of which are held iu the right baud at the time the shell is broken, when the latter is dropjied and the knife does its work. Two 

 tuljs or pails, of aljout three gallons capacity each, are placed within about 3 feet of the workman, into which he throws, with great 

 dexterity and rapidity, the luscious morsel which is to tickle the palate and gratify the taste of some dweller in the far West. The olyect 

 of placnig these vessels of reception so far from the operator is to prevent, as much as possible, the deposit of the original liquor with 

 the oyster. * « * From the opening-room the oysters are taken to the filling-room, and thence to the packing department. In the 

 filling-room, on a platform, are placed a dozeu or more kegs or cans, with the bungs out. The oysters are first poured into a large hopper 

 pierced with holes, in which they are thoroughly washed and drained, when they are ready to be deposited in packages. This is done 

 by placing a funnel in the aperture of the keg, by one person, while another "measures and pours". This operation is performed with 

 great rapidity, two or three men being able to fill some 2,000 kegs iu a day. After depositing the requisite number of "solid oysters", as 

 they are termed, in each package, a pipe conveying fresh water is applied, aud the vacant space tilled with nature's beverage — the bungs 

 placed and driven home — when it is ready to be shij)ped. 



In hot weather, the article adds, kegs are placed iu boxes surrounded with broken ice. One firm, Eowe & Co., 

 used 150,000 kegs a year, costing aljout $15,000. 



The oyster-trade op Fair Haven in 1879. — Except that the use of the little wooden kegs has been 

 abandoned for the most part, and that opening is no longer done at tlie homes of the workmen, but wholly at the 

 planter's warehouse, the foregoing report presents a good picture of the Fair IIa\'en of to-day. 



* The Fair Haven Iron bridge is just 150 paces in length. — E. I. 



