THE OYSTER-INDUSTRY. 63 



With tlie growtli of so extensive a business, in so confined a space, came the attendant evil of too severe 

 competition. About 1S50, therefore, one or two Fair Uaven men of energy conceived tlie idea of talcing their 

 M'arehouses to the oysters, instead of bringing the mollusks so far to the salesroom. They therefore opened branch 

 houses in Baltimore. Others followed, and the names of Maltby, Mallory, Hemingway, liowe, and their confreres, 

 long familiar in Connecticut, and identified then as now with the oyster-business on the Quinepiac, became equally 

 well known along the Chesapeake, and, through wide advertisements, over the whole country. All the great 

 Baltimore firms of old standing originated in Fair Haven, just as Wellfleet, an obscure village on Cape Cod, 

 supplied Portlau<l, Boston, and Providence, with its oystermen. The result was the same in both cases ; the home 

 interests retrograded when metropolitan advantages began to be used in competition, and at Fair Haveu considerable 

 and rapid changes in methods, as well as the results of trade, have come about. 



All of the foregoing remarks have ai^plied to the imported Chesapeake oysters, which were brought in the 

 spring, fattened on the sandbars in the harbor, and taken up in the autumn. Then, as now, Xew Haven harbor 

 had no competition in this branch of trade worth speaking of anywhere else in the state; and it may be dismissed, 

 so far as the whole of Long Island sound is concerned, with the remark, that many or all of the old dealers continue 

 to bring and plant southern oysters, which they open in the fall and winter, but a good proportion confine themselves 

 wholly to raising and disposing of natives. 



The Chesapeake oysters brought into this locality in 1879 amounted to about 450,000 bushels. Those from the 

 Rappahannock are the favorites for winter use, and are imported almost exclusively; for planting jjurposes, however, 

 Ea]ipahannock oysters are undesirable, and those from Fishing Bay, Saint Mary's, and Chrisfield, are preferred. 

 But this may be wholly changed in a year or two. The names of the jirincipal dealers appear in the appended 

 table. 



The New Haaten oyster-fleet. — The vessels employed in this trade are rarely owned in New Haven, as 

 used to be the case, but mainly hail from New York. The following is the bst, so far as I have been able to 

 complete it — all schooners: 



X:imo. Tons. Name. Tons. Name. Tons. 



William Farren 75 J. F. H. Laugrel — Garry P. Wright — 



Ellio F. Loug 96 Morning Star Sf) Stephen Wood 12 



Mary C. Decker 91 Minnie Gritfin — David C'arll 125 



James Phelps 112 Ella H. Barnes 190 Mary Ellen — 



John Mosser 9.3 R. Masou 51 John A. Cliaftce 130 



Orvetta 128 Wm. H. Van Name 97 Harvest Home — 



The smaller of these schooners are preferred, as they make quicker passages, but the larger will carry for less 

 money. Freights, thei'efore, vary with the vessel and the season, from 10 to 18 cents. It is estimated that 3 cents 

 will plant the oysters, which makes their cost from 22 to 28 cents a bushel. The selling price will average at least 

 75 cents, and i^robably more. 



27. NATIVE OYSTERS AND OYSTER-PLANTING IN THE VICINITY OF NEW HAVEN. 



Early oyster-campaigns on the Quinepiac. — The remainder of my history will apply to the gathering, 

 transplanting, and propagating of native oysters in the waters of Long Island sound, opposite New Haven. 



It has already been mentioned, that native beds existed within recent years, if they do not now flourish, in 

 every harbor westward of the Thames river, and that many of these old localities, as Stony Creek, Branford, and 

 so forth, still furnish large quantities of small oysters for the plantations. None of these localities ever equaled, 

 however, the importance of the Quinepiac and its tributaries at New Haven as a natural field of oyster-production, 

 while this harbor was equaled, if not surpassed, by several inlets still further west. 



Until lately, however, all this wealth was used up in private consumption, sold in the shore towns as "fancy", 

 or mixed in with the southern stock, without being taken into account. The fishing was done maiidy for each man's 

 winter-supply, and nobody paid much attention to any regulation of it beyond the close-time in summer. Gradually, 

 however, these public river oysters became more rare and coveted. The law was ''off" on the 1st day of November, 

 and all the natural beds in the state became open to any person who wished to rake them. In anticipation of this 

 date, great preparations were made in the towns along the shore, and even for twenty miles back from the seaside. 

 Boats and rakes, and baskets and bags, were put in order. The day before, large numbers of wagons came toward 

 the shore from the back country, bringing hundreds of men, with their utensils. Among these were not unfrequently 

 seen boats, borne on the rigging of a hay-cart, ready to be launched on the expected morning. It was a time of 

 great excitement, and nowhere greater than along the Quinepiac. On the day preceding, farmers flocked into Fair 

 Haven from all the surrounding country, and brought with them boats and canoes of antique pattern and ruinous 

 aspect. These rustics always met with a riotous welcome from the town-boys, who hated rural competition. They 

 were very likely to find their boats, if not cai-efully watched, stolen and hidden before they had a chance to launch 

 them, or even temporarily disabled. These things diversified the day and enlivened a community usually very 

 peaceful, if not dull. As midnight ajiproached, men dressed in oilskin, and carrying oars, paddles, rakes, and 



