THE OYSTER-INDUSTRY. 105 



in respect to quaDtity and quality, for Blue Point oysters, both the amount sold and the price received being small. 

 The crops gathered at the different ports were approximately as follows: 



Bnshcls. 



Patcliogue to Blue Point, about 55,000 



From Oakdale, about ■ 80,000 



From Sayvillo, about 60,000 



From Bayshore, about 20,000 



215, 000 



About half of these were sent by rail, and the other half, or a little more, by water-sloops sailing to New York 

 with loads of barrels. This traffic is very important to the railway, and the water competition has served the 

 shippers the good turn of keeping freight-charges at a low figure, particularly as there were many advantages to be 

 gained in shipping by boat. The average receipts by the railway, per bushel, for oysters transported in 1879, to 

 l!few York, from all stations on the Great South bay, was between 8 and 9 cents. 



Exportation of "Bltxe Points" to Europe — The principal market for "Blue Points" is now, as for some 

 years past, for the European trade. Their superior fla^-or, round, thin shell, and small size, commended them when 

 this shipping business was first begun, and they have retained their suprenuicy over all other brands, until the 

 unfortunate season of 1879, when they proved so poor that the " Sounds" beat them in the estimation of the epicures 

 abroad, and money was lost by shippers on Long Island. Another unfortunate thing which detracted from their 

 success, was an attempt to substitute southern oysters, nurtured for one season in the bay, for native " Blue Points." 

 As has been said before, the southern seed takes on in growth so close a semblance to the genuine Bi'ookha veu product 

 as to deceive any but the most expert eyes, so far as the shell is concerned; but the meat never looks nor tastes 

 so well as that which is imitated. On this account, the leading shippers looked upon the advent of Virginia 

 oysters to the bay with some anxiety, fearing that weak-kneed or unscrupulous persons would some day foist the 

 imitation upon the London market, under the brand of genuine " Blue Points." 



One day an agent of one of the 'New York houses suspected that such an attempt was being made, but could 

 not easily verify it. At the station, however, while the suspected barrels of oysters were being i^laced upon the 

 freight cars, he ijrocured an opportuuity, unobserved, to look at their contents, and found them nearly all "Virginias" 

 mixed with a few natives. He telegraphed at once to his principal in New York, who forwarded a cipher dispatch 

 to his agent in Liverpool. That merchant gave a hint to the customs authorities, and a watch was kept. When the 

 adulterated consignment arrived they were seized by officers, their inferior character proved, and the whole stock 

 confiscated ; moreover, the agents of these people in Liverpool were arrested, charged with fraud in selling food 

 under a false label, which is an offense visited with heavy penalties under the English law, and they only escaped 

 through the intercession of American oyster-dealers there, who explained that the shippers probably thought 

 southern oysters laid down in Blue Point waters might properly pass as "Blue Points." Such a construction is 

 plausible, but the inferior nature of the stock was well-known nevertheless, and would have tended to injure the 

 reputation of these fine oysters irretrievably. 



Mr. George H. Shaffer, of New York, one of the pioneers in shipping to Europe, preferred "Blue Points" at 

 first, and has continued ever since to be a very large buyer of them. To the kindness of his agent at Patchogue 

 Mr. More, I am greatly indebted for assistance in my investigations. Mr. IMore and all his brother-agents are 

 known as "packers". They are very busy men, traveling along the shore every day, in all sorts of weather, and 

 striving against one another in the purchasing-boats for friendly advantages. Each packer has a sloop and crew with 

 which he cruises on the fishing-grounds. That he has come to their vicinity, and is ready to purchase, is known to 

 the oystermen by the signal of a basket hoisted at his masthead. They row up to him, measure out the "tubs", 

 each of which holds two bushels, and receive their cash-payment on the spot. Several thousand dollars a day are 

 thus disbiu'sed iu this region all winter through. When this market-boat is full she makes for the shore and lands 

 her cargo in her owner's shanty, which, firmly secured against the wind and banked up with sea-weed, occupies a 

 place just out of reach of the tide on the sandy beach. Here the oysters are "culled": that is, assorted into three 

 sizes. The largest ones, of small amount, are reserved for the home trade, while the two small sizes are snugly 

 packed in barrels, well shaken down, to be sent abroad. The barrels used are eld flour-barrels, supplies of which 

 are sent down from New York, and they will hold a scant three bushels; but in the course of packiug, discarding 

 and waste occur, until it is estimated that every barrel of Long Island oysters sent to Europe represents fully four 

 bushels taken from the beds. I presume the same will hold true at Perth Amboy and elsewhere. The residue of 

 the packing, big and little, the packer throws overboard upon a plot of ground reserved for the purpose, near his 

 house, whence he occasionally takes up such as are suitable for market, so that really there is little waste. 



Advance-contracts for oyster-crops. — The system of contracting for a planter's crop a season ahead, 

 has been followed here by the packers to considerable advantage. The planter judges what he will be able to rake 

 or procure from his neighbors duriug the winter, and contracts to deliver so many barrels to the shipper at such a 

 price. Last season was disadvantageous for the contractors, owing to scarcity of stock, but as a rule they have done 

 fairly well. The packers also sometimes advance capital to a man with which to start an oyster-bed, on condition 



