THE OYSTER-INDUSTRY. 109 



Sec. 91. Persons obtaining and using oyster-gronnd in Jamaica or Hempstead shall pay to the supervisor of the town an annual 

 rent of i|5 an acre. This money shall go to pay current annual expenses of the town. Any oystering or clamming on ground so set apart, 

 without authority of the owner, is forbidden. 



Sec. 92. Penalty for taking oysters, or distiu'hing beds in Jamaica or Hempstead, |100, to be recovered by the owner. 



Sec. 93. Detines process of arrest and recovery. 



Sec. 94. Forfeiture ensues when the owner of ground in Jamaica or Hempstead waters ceases to use the ground for one year, or at the 

 end of a year after he ceases to l>o a resident. 



Sec. 95. Persons given until January 1, 1872, to remove their oysters from the waters of Jamaica or Hempstead, or to acqiuro new 

 rights. 



Sec. 96. Forbids dredging in the waters belonging to Jamaica or Hempstead, under penalties of |100 fine, or 60 days imiirisonment, or 

 both. 



Sec. 97. Repeals the act of April 8, 1865, relating to this subject. 



Under these closely protective laws the whole towu, nearly, has turned itself into oyster-growers, and the 

 coming generation are taking the beds their fathers leave. They pay into the town treasury of Hempstead about 

 $900 a year, and into that of Jamaica about $4:00, which, at $5 an acre rent annually, sliows that few of tlio 

 planters occupy the three acres which they are permitted to. This is not for lack of room, however ; plenty of 

 good gi'ound remains. 



Oystermen's wages. — The total number of planters that one may count up in Rockaway varies from time to 

 time, but there are not less than 150 constantly engaged, and devoting their whole time to their beds, except in 

 midsuiumer. Besides these planters, properly speaking, there are as many more men who support their families by 

 l)ickiug up the oysters that have drifted on to public ground from the planted beds, and selling them for mai ket or 

 for seed ; who catch crabs, dig clams, and mend boats and tools, when not directly employed in assisting the 

 planters make their beds or harvest their crops. It is particularly at the harvest-time that this help is employed, 

 and the laborers receive from 20 to 25 cents a bushel for getting up and bringing in the oysters and culling them 

 for market. It may safely be said, therefore, that 250 families, and many single men, in this village alone, obtain 

 their support from the local oyster-industry. 



Methods of culture. — Eockaway meu get their seed from Brookhaven and Newark bay, but jirefer East 

 river seed to any other, and use the largest quantity of it. It is brought to them in sloops. Rockawny itself owns 

 few large sailboats; its channels are too shallow and devious to admit of easy navigation, but every man has a 

 skiff, and all the planters, flat planting-boats. Virginia oysters have been tried, but have never done well. Kow 

 none are planted. They say the water is too salt for them. The growth of Eockaway oysters is extremely rapid. 

 The mud in the bottom of these marshy channels, which is only sufEicieut to hold the oysters from being smothered, 

 seems to be full of nourishment, and the oysters are always large and fat. Some few men deal only in "box" size ; 

 but the majority of the planters sell, nowadays, much smaller oysters than formerly they were wont to, so that the 

 average shipments now will run about 275 to the bushel. Lately, also, Eockaway has been able to contribute 

 considerably to the Eui'opean trade, selling what they term "French" stock, measuring from 1,500 to 1,700 to the 

 barrel, and receiving $1 a hundred for it. I understand that these oysters have given very good satisfaction abroad. 



Markets and prices of Eockaway oy^sters. — When Eockaway oysters first began to get a name in the 

 city markets, they were sent there by the packet-sloops that used to run for fast freight and passenger trafdc from 

 the south shore to the metropolis, in rivalry with the lumbering stage-coaches on the shore, and brought about 75 

 cents a basket. When the war of the Eebellion cut oft' the southern supply, northern oystermen profited, and 

 " Eockaway s" were so good and regular, that at the close of the war they Avere worth $1 for ordinary stock at the 

 boats, after which they were carted to the city in peddlers' wagons. This rate dwindled, however, very rapidly; 

 yet Eockaway oysters have always held a good place, and last season were sold readily at $1 25 for small and $2 

 for the larger sort. The quality was unusually poor this season. The total quantity raised annually by this community, 

 I estimate, after much studj^, at 100,000 bushels, judging that 700 bushels is the largest average i>ermissible, and 

 counting 150 planters. 



Northwest Point. — On the eastern shore of Jamaica bay is a little oyster-settlement calling itself Northwest 

 Point, which disjioses of its oysters as "Eockaways". The beds here are in a swift tidal channel, where the water is 

 shallow, and many beds are left bare at low tide. Here are from 40 to 45 families, chiefly supported by the business. 

 Four or five of these are planters, raising from three to five thousand bushels annually; but the majority are small 

 planters, who get from $150 to $400 a year out of their beds. They own here about 20 oyster-sloops, which do also 

 a good deal of coasting, and in summer enter into the pleasure-excursion business at the beach hotels. The total 

 crop of the locality, therefore, does not exceed ten or fifteen thousand bushels. Last year these were of poor quality, 

 and were sold on the shore at $1 25 a bushel. As a rule, most of the oysters are taken by water to the foot of West 

 Tenth street, New York, and there disposed of, generally to good advantage. Mr. Henry Wanser, to whom I am 

 chiefly indebted for information, pi'ophesied that the crop of 1S80-'81 would be a good one in quality, because the 

 moUusks had spawned early, and therefore had time left them to get strong and fat before the cold autumn weather 

 began. He thought oysters must be in good shape by August 20, or they would not be good at all. 



A few other planters are scattered singly about the shores, but they are of no importance, and cater -chiefly to 

 the hotels and local trade in summer. 



