THE OYSTER-INDUSTRY. 189 



North Cabolina oystermen. — The men who supply the oysters are partly fishermeu, few of them expecting 

 to derive as much as half of their support from this occupation. lu all, I suppose there are from 300 to 400 men 

 touging more or less in ranilico sound, Ijut it is out of the question to arrive at any definite average of what each one 

 earns. The main cash receipts go to the hundred or so chief oystermen. The boats are the same ones used in the 

 general fisheries, and will average $200 to $250 in value. They belong chiefly in Core sound, and in all there are 

 perhii])s 50 or 00 of them. In spite of this array of natural resources, men and boats, only about 25,000 bushels were 

 landed at Newberue, and about 5,000 bushels more at Beaufort, during the winter of 1S7!)-'S0. It is said that about half 

 as much more (say 15,000 bushels) were bought by peddlers alongshore, who carted them back into the country and 

 sold them from their wagons. The total production of this district, therefore, is about 45,000 bushels, which would 

 be increased to 50,000 bushels if we counted the immediate consumption on the shore. Not only ought there to have 

 been raised from the water a very much larger amount than this, when we consider the great area of the beds and the 

 number of men employed, but a vastly larger amount would have found an immediate market at Newberne. There 

 are two or three persons there who regularly ship in the shell as many good oysters as they can procure. Besides 

 this there has recently been opened a shipping-house, which would be glad to consume 1,000 bushels a day during 

 all of the cooler half of the year, if they could only obtain the stock. But unfortunately, the general laziness and 

 improvidence of the oystermen are so great, that it is impossible to make a contract and expect to fill it. Not only 

 has it proved extremely difficult to obtain oysters in suflicient quantity, and at the time they were needed, to make 

 the running of this new packing-house profitable, but when by good luck a stock was on hand, there was incessant 

 danger that the men hired as shuckers might suddenly desert their employer, without a single compunction as to 

 their duty or responsibility under the circumstances. When it is cold, or the weather is at all rough, no one of 

 these North Carolina oystermen can be persuaded or driven to go to work, notwithstanding that the beds are 

 near shore and well sheltered, and in spite of his manifest poverty. The fact that some discomfort will attend 

 his raking, is reason enough for him why he should stay home and sit over his miserable fire. Yet it is in cold and 

 stormy weather that the buyers are most anxious to get oysters, and will ])ay a higher price, because then there is not 

 only a greater demand produced by general scarcity, but the frosty air sharpens the appetite of their customers. 



The question of labor in opening presented an obstacle to success of the same nature. These men are paid by 

 the gallon, and it was found that no i^eliance could be placed upon a large number of them. Both white men and 

 colored were employed, but the latter have proved the more reliable of the two, and have nearly superseded white 

 help. Many men would come to the house, beg to be taught the art of opening oysters, which was new to most of 

 them, and be set at work. For the first few days the novelty would keep them pretty steadily employed, then 

 suddenly, when perhaps their assistance was most needed in filling an order, they would knock ofl'. After that their 

 promises proved worth nothing, and no reliance whatever could be placed upon their staying longer than was 

 necessary to earn the 15 or 20 cents which would buy them a little corn meal and tobacco, to keep themselves and 

 their families from starvation for a couple of days. So impossible have the proprietors found it to improve these 

 lazy, unbusinesslike habits of the people, upon whom they must rely for their stock and their labor, that Newberne 

 is likely to lose the benefit of an industry which, in a different community, would distrUjute much needed money 

 among hundreds of families of the poorer classes. 



Some oysters bring as high as 50 and 75 cents a bushel in Newberne and Beaufort, but the average price during 

 this last winter was not above 35 cents, if quite as high as that. At this rate the 50,000 bushels credited to the 

 district was worth $17,500. 



TnE USE OF OYSTERS FOR MANURE. — I must uot omit to mention a custom which prevails in Pamlico sound 

 in summer, and which has been described to me by Mr. Barll. It seems that when the weather becomes too warm 

 for the fishermen to safely carry their catch to market, and there is no other employment for their boats, they catch 

 up boat loads of rough "'coon oysters" and carry them to the farmers up the rivers to be sold and used as manure. 

 They receive from 3 to 5 cents a bushel for this strange, but doubtless highly nutritious, fertilizer, but what is the 

 total amount thus gathered and spread on the land each season, I am unable to estimate. 



Oystering ABOUT NEW RIVER. — South of Ncwberue and Beaufort oysters grow in nearly all the inlets, but 

 there is no regular production until New river is reached, about half way between Beaufort and Wilmington. The 

 nulin location of the raking here is right opposite Sneed's ferry, beginning two miles from the bar and extending 

 for three miles. The water here is only brackish, and of a uniform depth of about 9 feet. The crooked channel is 

 full of "oyster-rocks". The oysters are of large size, fairly regular shape, and for the most part single. They 

 , possess a most pleasing flavor ; but when now and then storms drive the salt water up the river, their excellence 

 departs and the oysters take on a greenish appearance, locally called " green-gill". When in this condition they 

 are not considered fit to be eaten, but the disaflectiou soon wears off. 



The oystering here is done in skifls,*of which from fifteen to twenty are constantly busy for four or five months in 

 the spring. As there are two men to each skifi" or canoe, from 30 to 40 families get a living from the longing. The 

 law permits every man owning a water-front to inclose a large space of the adjoining bottom, if he wishes to plant 

 oysters. About a dozen persons have taken such plots and raise planted oysters, but the total crop this year will 

 probably not exceed 2,500 bushels, and this stock was inferior to the natural gr.owth. All these oysters, wild and 

 planted, are sold to carters, who l)ny them at $1 a bushel, or from 0(1 to 80 cents a gallon, for a large part of the 



