THE OYSTER-INDUSTRY. 181 



was very great, and liigli prices were paid, and many who bad been rednced from wealth to poverty were glad to 

 avail themselves of the chance to make a snpport by oystering, which was at that time a very proUtablo 

 employment. The four years of war, during which the oysters had almost a complete rest in many parts of tlio 

 state, gave them a chance for development, and when the trade revived, the beds were well stocked with large 

 finely-flavored oysters. Men from nearly all occupations, representing all classes of society, eagerly entered the 

 business, and soon there were hundreds of oystermen where formerly there had been but a dozen or so. ]\Iany of 

 the most extensive farmers in the tidewater counties found that the conditions of labor had so greatly changed, 

 that to make a living it was necessary for them to devote all spare time to the oyster-trade. This is still done to 

 SI considerable extent by those whose farms border on some salt- water creek or river; but the great bulk of the 

 trade is in the hands of a rougher class, and in certain parts of the state it is almost monopolized by negroes. A 

 very noticeable fact in connection with the tonging interests in Virginia and Maryland, and especially of the 

 former state, is the almost total absence of foreigners. The entire trade may be said to be in the hands of native 

 Virginians, sir.ce there are probably not 300 tongers in the whole state who were not born and raised there. Such 

 is not, however, the case in the other branches of the trade. The business of oyster-tonging is one involving 

 great exposure, hard labor, and some risk, and the men engaged in it are mostly adult males in the vigor of health. 

 The injury to health from exposure is so great, that few ever reach old age. The death-rate among oystermen, as 

 compared with other trades, is very great. Nor does oyster-tonging give returns in proportion to labor ex])ende(l. 

 The element of chance is a large one. A clear, smooth water, with its opportunities for coving, permits the 

 fisherman to gather in one day what he may not realize by a week's exertion in stormy and tempestuous weather. 

 The influence of these uncertainties upon the habits and thrift of the men is plainly marked, particularly in 

 dislike of steady industry. Few of them ever pretend to work on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, those days 

 being consumed in going to market and returning, though there is nothing to prevent their going home on 

 Saturday night, or at least on Sunday morning. Many of them have a small piece of land and a house, but their 

 efforts at accumulation do not seem to go beyond living "from hand to mouth". 



The James kivee.— The most productive of all the tonging-grounds, at least in southern Virginia, are 

 doubtless those of the James river. Go anywhere in it, from its mouth up nearly to Jamestown, and you will 

 catch oysters. There are certain " shoals", however, where the oystermen usually work. Such a one was visited 

 recently by a correspondent of the New York Times, who records what he saw as follows : 



The shoal from which the Dennis was leaded extended over a jout 500 acres, and from this shoal, on tlie day that she was loaded, not 

 less than 10,000 bushels of " plants" were taken. To do this about 250 oystermen were employed, with about 100 boats. And this business 

 of gathering plants bad been going on from off the same shoal for upward of two months, with the probability that between 300,000 and 

 400,000 bushels of oysters liave been gathered, and fully 200,000 bushels more will be takeu away before the season ends, on May 20. This 

 gives a yield of 1,000 bushels to the acre, and yet nowbere on all this shoal would it lue possible to find a spot as large as a set of tongs will 

 cover without oysters on it. The tongs are never pushed down and pulled back without bringing with them a number of oysters. In 

 September the oystermen will begin work again on the same shoals and work for three or four months catching plants ; then, during the 

 winter until the 1st of April, they are engaged in taking up, assorting, and selling the products of these plants. It seems as if the supply of 

 oyster-plants in the James river could never be exhausted, yet the oystermen say they are growing less and less each year; but if they 

 are correct in this assertion, it is difficult to conjectiire in what abundance these oysters must have been when they were iilenty. 



To see the oystermen balancing themselves in one of their canoes, and working with so much energy at the same time, was quite a 

 novelty. Many of these canoes are so narrow that should a novice step into one it would most probably be overturned ; yet the oystermen 

 work in them all day long in smooth weather, and sometimes in pretty stormy weather, and apparently keep them properly balanced 

 without any effort. To propel them through the water they use a long paddle, and, balancing it over the stern (the canoes, of course, are 

 shaq) at both ends, having no row-locks and no indentation to aid them in keeping their paddle in place), they move them swiftly. 



Statistics of the Virginia oyster-fleet. — No records are kept in Virginia of the number of boats 

 engaged in the trade, and it was a very difficult matter to obtain any reliable information upon this subject. After 

 traveling through the tidewater counties, and gaining as near an estimate as possible, Mr. Edmonds sent out a 

 large number of circulars to the oflicials, and also to one or more prominent oystermen of each county, requesting 

 their aid in the work, and desiring them to give their estimates as to the number of canoes in their respective 

 counties. Many of these gentlemen, he reports, went to considerable trouble to work up the matter, and by their 

 aid he was enabled to correct some of his own figures, and he considers he is able to present reliable figures, 

 showing the number of canoes in each county engaged in the oyster-trade, and the number of men working on 

 them. In addition to this he succeeded in obtaining the number of schooners and sloops used for running oysters 

 to market. It is difiicult to divide these latter according to the counties in which they are owned, but I think 

 the figures, as given in the following table, will be found very near correct. The number credited to Norfolk 

 county appears somewhat large, but the figures are furnished officially by Mr. Rusha Denise, county cleric. The 

 majority of the.se boats hailing from Norfolk county are owned in the cities of Norfolk and rortsmouth. 0\er 

 three-fourths of them are quite small, being under ten tons register, while there are very few of the other fourth 

 that will register as high as fifteen tons. 



