118 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Virginia oysters sold for about 20 per cent, less than the above-given, which were all "hard", in the parlance 

 of the period. 



During the war of the Eebellion, when the southern fields were cut off from the northern markets to a great 

 extent, the Staten Island i^lanters reaped a rich harvest. Their beds were unusually produ(;tive, and the jirices 

 were double what thej' now are, in many cases. At present the receipts are about the same as have prevailed for 

 several years, except that the season of lS78-'79, following upon a period of financial depression, and characterized 

 hy misfortune in the growth of the moUusks, showed lower rates paid than ever before or since. Prices depend 

 largely upon the quality of the ditfereut beds, and vary with localities. Virginia oysters from Prince's bay are 

 considered the best. Of natives, those grown in the sound are favorites ; these supplied a large part of the shipments 

 to Enroi)e in 1879-'S0, and gave better satisfaction than any others sent. Perth Amboy and Key[)ort were the 

 packing-points. The prices received by the planters for the different kinds of Staten Island oysters last year (1879) 

 were from 10 to 20 per cent, less than the previous year, up to which time the price for a long time has averaged $1 

 per bushel, taking aU grades and sizes together. In 1878, one man told me his whole croii averaged him $1 30 i)er 

 bushel, but this was exceptionally good. In the fall and winter of 1879-80, however, lots sold at $1 were rare, 

 and the average price of "Sounds" and the best "Prince's Bays" (natives) did not average over 80 or 90 cents, while 

 Totteuville oysters, with few exceptions, failed to come up to this even, 75 to 80 cents being reported for the most 

 part. This will no doubt revive shortly. 



In Perth Amboy, for the Eui'opean stock, $2 to $2 50 per barrel was paid by the shippers ; but this was called 

 a very poor i>rice, and, it is well known, proved highly profitable to shippers. For other oysters from 60 to 80 

 cents a bushel was paid for medium stock, and from $1 to $1 25 for larger, of which not much was sold; but the 

 average probably would not exceed 90 cents. 



In Keyport, for " bushels", 40 cents, $3 to $3 50 per thousand for "culls", and $6 to $7 for "box" size. A large 

 number of Kej-port's oysters go by rail to Ocean Grove, Ocean Beach, Long Branch,^ and other summer resorts on 

 the coast. 



Drawbacks to oyster-cultivation. — The visible drawbacks to oyster-cultivation between the East river 

 and Sandy Hook, are not very numerous, but likely to be unforeseen and significant when they occur. One 

 misfortune, however, to which the last remark does not well apply, is the fact that the sewage and waste pollution 

 of the factories of Jersey City have so corrupted the shallow water along the Bergen shore, called York bay, as to 

 ruin those j^lanting grounds. At present the only way in which they can be utilized by oyster-growers, is to raise 

 there large seed, which shall be taken elsewhere and given a year's growth and piuification. Whether this trouble 

 is exaggerated or not, I cannot say from jiersonal experiment. 



^^ Hairing mj)." — I was told by Captain Wood, of Pleasant Plains, Long Island, that his oysters nowadays 

 "haii'ed up", by which he meant that a growth of hydroids, and perhaps also of sea-weed, grew upon them to such 

 an extent as to keep them poor. This might operate thus in two ways : a luxurious hydroid wonld both consume 

 and tend to keep from entering its mouth a jiart of the mollusk's food-snpply ; and it might also form eddies, acting 

 as an impediment to catch drifting matter, weeds, and the like, until the mollusks were partially buried and 

 smothered. I believe, however, that the danger from this source is of little account; while some fishermen assured 

 me that to have the red-beard, and gray-beard, Serfularia argentca, and several other hydroids and bryozoa, which 

 pass under the general name of "sciuf " and "yellow moss", appear plentifully on the beds, was a sure sign that 

 the oysters were doing well. 



Mussels. — A more serious cause of disquietude, and one I here met with for the first time, is the fastening 

 of great quantities of young black mussels, Modiola pUcaiula, on the oyster-beds. This happened last year in certain 

 parts of Prince's bay to a formidable extent. It is liable to occur also in the lower part of the East river, but I 

 have heard no complaint from there. It is not my purpose in these chapters to do more than mention tlie enemies 

 present at a i)articular point, reserving a fuller description of each for a si^ecial chapter. This nuisance varies 

 somewhat with different years, and at Keyport, perhaps owing to favorable currents, seems not to happen at all. 



Drums, skates, and rays. — A less constant though more openly destructive agent of e\'il is tlie drum-fish, 

 Pogonias chromis, which is here at its worst, and once in a few years completely devastated many beds, picking up 

 thousands of mollusks, crushing them in his iiowerfnl teeth, and droijping the fragments, heedless of uuschief. 

 Thirty years ago was the weU-remembered drum-fish year, and since then only occasional forays have been 

 committed by them. 



The skates and the sting-ray — especially the latter — are a source of constant damage, the amount of which 

 aggregates a large sum every year. The clever device, described in the chapter on the oyster's enemies, by wLich 

 the drum-fish seem to have been frightened away, avails nothing in the case of the "stiugaree", whose devastations 

 seem unavoidable and of the most importance of all oyster-foes. 



Starfishes and drills. — Starfish very rarely occur, and the periwinkles and conchs are of small account in doing 

 harm, but in 1878 the drill, Urosalpinx cinerea, proved himself a great nuisance about East point, injuring many 

 beds there beyond repair. Since that time, however, little has been seen of him. 



