IIG THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The method pursued in this region has grown to be careful and systematic, and furnishes employment to a 

 considerable number of men not planters. In the spring, as soon as the weather gets fairly settled, the "natives", 

 intended to be sent to market the following fall, are taken up from the place where they lie, culled over, and 

 cleaned, if needful, and relaid, more thinly, on a new bed. Usually this is. a movement from a soft to a harder 

 bottom, and sometimes to a region of fresher water. At Perth Amboy, however, oysters shifted are iilaced further 

 down the bay. It operates advantageously in two ways: by repressing the tendency to spawn, whieh is 

 undesirable ; and by giving them the benetit of a change of water and food. Moreover, on the sand they will tend 

 to grow round and shapely beyond their ability to do so when ci'owded in the mud, while the fresher water will 

 make them fiitter. The actual result, nevertheless, is sometimes disappointing, particularly if there be no current 

 over the new bed to bring a steady supply of fresh food. 



The man who has only a few hundred bushels will do this "shifting", as it is termed, himself; but for the large 

 planters it is usually done by a contractor, either for a lump sum or for an amount of pay based upon an estimate 

 of the quantity, or at the rate of 10 to 15 cents per bushel, according to the density of the oyster-beds, and hence 

 the time to be consiimed. In either case the cost is about the same. One gentleman told me he paid $1,300 to 

 have 11,000 bushels shifted under the first-named arrangement. While this is going on the southern cargoes are 

 being laid upon the beds, and at Keyport a score or more of negi'oes, from Norfolk, annually appear as laborers, 

 returning, at the end of the work, to their homes. 



Growth op oysters in New York bay. — The growth of oysters transplanted to these New York bay waters 

 is reasonably raj)id, though not as fast as occurs in the Great South bay of Long Island. The usual expectation 

 is to leave the beds undisturbed for three years, then shift in the spring and market in the fall. As planting of 

 seed occurs both spi'ing and fall, the crop of every year is thus the first of a series of six. All "naturals", that is, 

 local oysters, planted, will outgrow foreign seed, doubling in size in a single season. This, manifestly, is because 

 they suffer no change of locality, and do not need to become acclimated. The oysters from the sound, however, 

 have been used largely for European trade for the last two or three years, and have acquired a high reputation. 

 These do not require to lie three years, since they are wanted of small size. 



Captain Benjamin Decker, whom I have quoted before, relates that some years ago he had a strange experience 

 in this direction: a bed of oysters, which he planted at Keyport, doubled their size in a single month! "I sold 

 these oysters in the New Y^ork market," he says, "and they sold well. The shells were so thin you could see the 

 light through them. They beat anything in the market. The growth was wonderful. I sowed them thin, and j-et 

 they choked one another. I should think at least half of them died from this cause." 



Sum:mer rest and autumn work in Keyport and vicinity. — By the end of May all work upon the 

 beds ceases, beyond taking up an occasional boat-load to supply the weak summer-demand. The condition of the 

 beds is watched closely, however, by the anxious owners, since it is the midsummer months that determine whether 

 the oysters will report themselves "good" in the fall, or the reverse; which means a profitable business, or the 

 reverse. If the season is hot, equable, and reasonably calm, all is expected to go well. Heavy storms and great 

 freshets in July and August, on the other hand, i)roduce thin and poor oysters, which will not bring a good price. 

 The ill-success of the beds along the Keyport and Raritan shores last year is attributed to this cause. 



Early in September the business of taking up the oysters for market begins. This is done by tonging, from 

 small boats, near which a sloop anchors upon the bed, in which the men are quickly carried out and home again, 

 and easily transport their load. Thus the larger part of the harvest is gathered, until the oysters become scarce 

 upon the ground. Then a dredge is thrown over from the sloop, which cruises back and forth across the ground, 

 until it is wholly cleaned up. Tonging over the side of a skiff is hard enough work, and requires sturdy, broad- 

 chested men ; but dredging is a still more terrihle strain upon the muscles, when it comes to dragging the heavy 

 lion frame and bag up from the rough bottom, and lifting it and its load over the rail on to the deck of the vessel. 

 Many of the newer and larger sloops are now })rovided with a windlass, si)ecially adapted to dredging, which 

 relieves the crews to a great extent of the old hand-over-hand back-breaking labor. Drag-rakes are also used very 

 frequently on these grounds, having very long, limber handles. 



" Giving the oysters a drink." — A sloop-load of oysters — from 200 to 800 bushels, according to the size 

 of the boat — having been secured, the owner's next stop is to "give them a drink". This he does by throwing 

 them overboard, for a short time, in the fresh or partially fresh waters of some creek. The Amboy and Staten 

 Island men find this largely in the vicinity of Rahway, New Jersey, where they lay their cargoes on the shore or 

 sometimes in floats. The work is largely done by men belonging there, who are paid in oysters, receiving a bushel for 

 about two hours' helping, which is usually what each master requires of them. The Keyport men have a little 

 creek running through the town, which is crowded with floats, skiffs, and the implements of work. It is a scene of 

 extraordinary activity, which may be witnessed here in autumn every day, as the oysters are being culled and 

 prepared for sale. 



The object of this "drinking" is to allow the oyster to become cleansed and freshened in taste. Finding 

 themselves once again in the water, the oysters all open, and, as the men say, "s])it out" all the impurities which 

 are to be found clinging to the edges of the mantle and gills of a sea-oyster, just within the shell, and they do this 

 at once, so that usually a single tide is a long enough time to leave them in the fresh water. Moreover, imbibing 



