90 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The next point is the very important station known as Five-Mile-Eiver or Eowayton, where the cultivation of 

 oysters has been systematically pursued for many years. In all, at present, there are about 35 i)lantors or firms, 

 and nearly or quite as many families are supported. The little creek-mouth is perfectly filled with oyster-boats, 

 and the other conveniences of this pursuit. I find upon my list of the oyster-fleet 28 sloops and sail-boats, which 

 belong here, some of them very large and well built. I estimate the value of these "sail" and the other floating 

 and shore-property at Eowayton, directly concerned in the oyster-trade of the port, at not far from $30,0(10. 

 Eowayton produced, in 1879, which was considered a very poor year, something near 50,000 bushels. How far 

 beneath occasional crops, if not beneath the recent average, this is, is shown by the statement made to me, that 

 about five years ago a single dealer in New York city bought 32,000 bushels of Eowayton oysters. Little of the 

 stock raised at this point fails to reach New York, and within the last three years Eowayton has sup])lied a large 

 proijortion of the oysters sent to Europe, partly by direct shipment. Like all other parts of the East river, the 

 oysters are sold here wholly in the shell; and almost always by the barrel or bushel — the selling' "by count" 

 belonging to the region further west and to the Long Island shore. 



South Noewalk. — Just eastward of Eowayton lies the city and harbor of South Norwalk, one of the most 

 imi^ortant oyster-producing localities in Long Island sound, as well as one of the "oldest". The bay at the mouth 

 of the Norwalk rfver is tilled with islands, which protect the shallow waters from the fury of the gales. This whole 

 bay, in old days, was full of native oysters from the sound, all the way up to Norwalk itself. Long before the 

 elaborate means for growing oysters, at present in vogue, were thought of, therefore, Norwalk supplied the people 

 of that region with fine, large, natural oysters, just as it had for centuries been a storehouse of shellfish food to 

 the Indians, the remains of whose feasts and feasting-places are still to be found. 



About forty years or more ago, however, the natural beds in the vicinity of Norwalk harbor had becom.e so 

 depleted that they no longer aftbrded to anybody employment that amounted to anything; nor was it until toward 

 the year 1850 that any transjilautation of seed, or anything in the shape of the propagation, was attemi)ted. The 

 business of oyster-growing here, therefore, which at first sight seems of immemorial age, is only about thirty years 

 old. The history of its growth need not be given here. It will be sufficient to publish the statistics I liave 

 accumulated in regard to the present status of the business at this point. 



The principal planters and shippers at South Norwalk (with which I include its suburb, Village Creek) are the 

 Hoyt Brothers, Graham Bell, Oliver Weed, C. Eemsen, Eaymond & Saunders, Peter Decker, the Burbanks, and 

 several others who raise more than 1,000 bushels a year. In addition to these there are many men who have small 

 beds, which they keep increasing as fast as circumstances permit, and who make a part of their living by working 

 at wages for planters whose operations are more extensive than their own. There is one firm, for instance, which 

 employs the services of 18 or 20 men nearly all the time, and in some seasons largely increases this number. These 

 smaller planters sell their little crops of from 100 to 1,000 or 1,500 bushels to the half a dozen shippers, chief among 

 whom are the Hoyt Brothers and Mr. G. Bell, wisely preferring cash, at a small discount, to the trouble and risk of 

 themselves taking their oysters down to New York, or elsewhere, in hopes of a slightly larger price. During the 

 present season (1879-'S0) the price paid at the boats has averaged about $1, taking little and big together. The 

 culling, as a rule, is done afterward, and the prices the shippers have received, after culling and packing, have 

 been as follows — it is understood, of course, that these are sold in the sheU and shipped in barrels, going chiefly to 

 New York : 



Per hundred. Per IjarreL 



Extras $1 40 |5 25 



Box 90 to 1 00 5 25 



Culls 45to 50 4 25 



Cullenteens 35 4 25 



Barrels are valued at 25 cents eaoli. 



The total number of bushels produced in 1879 (to which time my statistics refer for the sake of completeness), 

 as well as this year (ISSO), makes a sum which is asserted to tall far short of what is considered an average or 

 a high estimate. Nearly every man said to me: "Well, this year was a poor one." How much of this is to be 

 attributed to modesty and a timid desire to behttle the figures, and how much is truth, it is hard to tell. I am 

 inclined to think it pretty nearly true. Prices, at the same time, are much lower than formerly, owing to the 

 unusually poor quality of the oysters of these waters this year and last; but I do not think that this is a permanent 

 depreciation in fatness and excellence of taste (as I fear is the case from Stamford to Port Chester), but only a 

 temporary misfortune. Between scarcity and inferiority, the oystermen of Norwalk find themselves much less 

 cheerful just now than they are wont to be. The total production of this locality, during the season of 1878-'79 (the 

 present season, 1880, will probably be found not greatly to differ from it), is given at about 65,000 bushels. 



These oysters, as I have said, were the property of 50 planters, which gives an average of 1,300 bushels to each 

 one. It is probable, however, that as many more persons got their living out of these oysters, from first to last, so 

 that I do not hesitate to say that 100 families in South Norwalk and its immediate vicinity, are supported by the 

 cultivation and sale of oysters there. The estimate of 200 families, which I have often heard made, is undoubtedly 

 too high. This question is ever a hard one to answer, because, in many cases, the head of the family depends only 



