THE OYSTER-INDUSTRY. 197 



The oysters of Mobile bay liave a high reputation for excellence. The water and soil of the bay, particularly 

 in the eastern arm, called Bon Secour, seem especially well adapted to their growth. The planting-beds are all 

 higher up, wliere the seed thrives better than below. 



The foregoing operations give employment for three-fourths of the year to about 175 men, and kept afloat, in 

 1879, 62 vessels. 



Statistical recapitulation for Alabama: 



Number of vessels and sail-boats engaged 62 



Value of same $10,000 



Number of sailors (also planters) employed - 2.'30 



Annual earnings of same (excluding their own sales) $10,000 



Number of restaurant servants and openers — ^^^ 



Annual earnings of same *'*' ^^^ 



Annual sales of oysters bushels.. 104,500 



Value of same |44,950 



The Gulf of Mexico oyster company. — Early in 1880 a new concern, to be known as the Gulf of Mexico 

 Oyster Company, began oyster-canning and shipi)ing at Mobile, for though their factory was many miles distant, 

 at Scranton, Mississippi, yet the officers were in Mobile, and the business contributed to the city. About 90 to 100 

 hands, of all ages and sexes, are employed. These live in a little village, which tHe company has built for the 

 l)urpose, in the neighborhood of their factory. While this company does something in the fresh-oyster trade, their 

 main business is in cooked and canned oysters, which are steamed and sealed in substantially the same way 

 as at Baltimore. One specialty, however, is the putting up of canned fried oysters, after the following patented 

 method : 



From the supply vat, where they are kept cool, the oysters are taken and rolled in meal and fine cracker-dust, 

 and then are dropped, a gallon at a time, into a large kettle of hot fat, which is a mixture of lard, tallow, and 

 steariue, where they are allowed to fry crisp and brown. Next, while still hot, they are packed in small, flat, scpiare 

 tin boxes of about a quart capacity, and the unoccupied space is filled with hot fat. The opening in the top of the 

 box is round, and has a cap to fit, which is firmly soldered down, making the box air-tight. Afterward these boxes 

 are labeled and packed in cases, a dozen boxes in a case. It is asserted that oysters prepared in this manner sell 

 readily in all parts of the country, and the demand is mitch larger than was at first expected. 



The "cove oysters" of this company are simply fresh oysters hermetically sealed in cylindrical cans. 



The capital stock of this company is $25,000. (Another company has recently been projected with a capital 

 stock of $50,000.) Though the capacity of the Scranton factory is no less than 30,000 one-pound cans per day, the 

 product at the time of my visit had been insignificant, owiug to various delays in getting well under way. The 

 company will also can shrimps, fruit, and vegetables in season, so that not all the force, capital, and fixtures can 

 be credited to oj'sters alone; and, inasmuch as operations have only begun, I have not added these figures to my 

 totals. The stock which they receive for canning is the wild " reefer " oyster, that grows in immense profusion all 

 along the coast of Mississippi. 



56. OYSTER-INDUSTRIES OF MISSISSIPPI AND LOUISIANA. 



General characteristics of the oyster-fisheries of Mississippl — On the coast of Mississippi there 

 are several small villages, more like watering-places than anythiug else, that do some business with flsh and 

 oysters. The latter trade is of the most importance, for there are one or two firms in each place engaged in it, 

 while there is but one man on the coast who makes a business of shipping fish. The Mobile and New Orleans 

 fishermen and oystermen are fishing or oystering in the neighborhood at all times, and these, together with 

 unprofessionals who are striving to furnish their home tables, make quite a show, giving one an idea that the fish- 

 and oyster-business must be very important at these towns. A great many of the New Orleans boats also land 

 their catch at these points to be shipped by rail to their home-ports. 



The Mississippi oyster-fleet.— The number of oyster-vessels belonging in the state is given by Mr. Steams 

 as 18, worth $3,600, to which can be added $700 worth of oyster-sheds and tools. There are seven dealers in the 

 state also, whose sales for 1879 were reported at 18,920 gallons. At the average price of 35 cents a gallon this would 

 amount to $0,622. If these figures seem too low, it must be noted that they apparently do not include the shipments 

 in shell by express to interior towns, which from Biloxi, at least, and also from Mississippi City, Pass Christian, 

 and Bay Saint Louis, are considerable. It would be safe, probably, in point of value, to add to the $6,622 enough 

 to make an even $10,000, as an estimate of the annual yield of the coast of Mississijipi, separate from the catches 

 of the Mobile and New Orleans boats in her waters, and of the sales of her own oystermen, who take their cargoes 

 by boat to those cities. 



