THE OYSTER-INDUSTRY. 205 



min-ht be profitably carried on. He is not of opinion that foreshore cultivation will over become anything like as extensive here as on the 

 coast of France and other European countries, because there is not the requisite rise and fall of the tide. 



Oysters can be had in uulimited quantities on the Mexican coast, from Sau Bias to Guaymas, for the mere cost of taking them a-way. 

 The people and the authorities are anxious to aid in the development of the industry. It can now be undertaken with more favorable 

 prospects of success than ever before. Every fourteen days a steamer leaves Mazatlau, and \vithin four or live days afterward touches at 

 San Diego. There are two estuaries between Mazatlau and Sau Bias, one distant thirty and the other sixty miles from Mazatlau, where 

 oysters can be had in any quautity desired. The bivalves might bo temporarily bedded at Mazatlau to await shipment. The gentleman 

 above referred to estimate that oysters, equal in size and llavor to the best eastern, can bo laid down here at a cost of less than $2.") per ton, 

 while it costs $W0 a ton to get them here from New York. To insure success, he thinks that the projectors should have at their entire 

 command a schooner of from 25 to 40 tons, the cost of victualing aud nuinniug of which would not exceed §12.") a month. The cost of 

 gatheriu" the oysters and putting them on board ship he estimates at |3 per ton ; cost of boxes, .^2 50 ; cost of shipment to Mazatlau, $2 50 

 per ton ■ freight to San Francisco or San Diego, §10 per ton ; total, $18 pec ton ; and the boxes could be used several times. If it were 

 decidid to bed the oysters in San Diego, they might, when nearly grown, be taken up and transplanted to this bay, where they would 

 perhaps become fatter and finer flavored than if brought dii-ectly to market from San Diego. The canning of turtle couhl be made an 

 adjunct to the business, for green turtles of the finest kiud are found in the same lagoons with the oysters. 



Another plan suggested of getting the Mexican oysters here, is to ship them from La Paz by the Colorado line of steamers, which 

 makes the trip in seven or eight days. The experiment of transplanting oysters from the opposite coast of the Mexican gulf and bedding 

 them at La Paz, has already been successfully tried. By this plan of shipment, Mexican oysters could be laid down at San Francisco 

 every twenty days. 



It is to be hoped that the eftort will be once more made, under the remarkably fiivorable condition now existing, to give our people 

 the benefit of the boundless supply of splendid oysters possessed by our southern neighbor. It is quite possible that the Mexican oyster 

 may yet drive its eastern competitor out of our market, and thus the money which is now being expended at the East be retained at home. 



Commenting on the same subject, the Alta California (February 13, 1874) said that there was every evidence 

 that the Mexican oyster, " famous for its great size and fine flavor," would thrive iu the bay of San Diego, and asks : 



But who will venture the experiment? Not our own oystermen, certainly, for though the successful introduction and breeding of 

 Mexican oysters might benefit the people of the state of California, it would be more than likely to take money out of the pockets of those 

 who now enjoy the monopoly of the overland oyster-trade, by raising up a wholesome competition that would naturally reduce the prices 

 of oysters in California, and more than probably make this an important state industry. Because onr own bay is not favorable to the 

 breeding of oysters, this may not be the case with any other of our bays, harbors, and lagoons. These last, especially, should be tricd> 

 and particularly the lake at Oakland; this could, with flooil-gates, perhaps, be made an excellent place for the breeding of both fish and 

 oysters, and there are many other similar lagoons along our coast. Oysters can be brought from the coast of Mexico to San Diego iu four 

 days, and at a cost of §25 per ton, which is less than they can be bought for in the cities of New York. 



A year later (January 27, 1875) the B>iUeti7i, of San Francisco, announced the forming of a company "for the 

 purpose of transplanting oysters ti-om the Mexican coast", which had selected Sau Diego as their principal depot: 



The capital stock is placed at |1,000,000, divided into 10,000 shares. The Mexican oysters are now in fine condition, and will remain 

 so until the raiuy season sets in, in July. Beside stocking the bay of San Diego with plants and laying down a quantity of large oysters 

 for summer supply, it is proposed to ship direct to San Francisco. Auxiliary to the shipping of li\'e oysters, it is proposed also to dig 

 oysters for the China market, aud eventually to can and pickle them for the interior of Mexico. The Mexican officials are favorable to 

 this enteriirise. 



T. UTILIZxiTION OF OYSTER-SHELLS. 



59. SHELL-LIME AND OTHEE APPLICATIONS OF OYSTER-SHELLS. 



Uses of shells. — The utilization of oyster-shells is extensive and various. They serve as " metal" for roads 

 and foot-paths ; as "filling" for wharves, low lands, fortifications, and railway embankments; as ciUtch or stools 

 for new oyster-beds; as ballast for vessels; as material for lime; and as a spreading for exhausted fields, or a 

 comi)onent in mixed fertilizer.s, besides some minor uses, such as food for poultry, etc. 



Historical notes. — In Eees' Cylopwdta of 1819, it is stated that a Mr. Homberg had found them to be a 

 valuable medicine in case of acid stomach, and gave the following prescription for their preparation : 



Take the hollow fhclls of the oyfters, throwing away the flat ones as not fo good ; wafli them perfectly clean, and then lay them to 

 dry in the fun; when they appear dry beat them to pieces in a marble mortar; they will be then found to contain yet a large quautity of 

 moifture; lay them again in the fun till perfectly dried, and then finifh the powdering them, and fift the powder through a fine feive. 

 Give twenty or thirty grains of this powder every morning, and continue it three weeks or a month. — Mem. Acad, Par., 1700. 



One is astouLshed, upon first going to an oyster-locality, to see the huge piles of shells, and discover what 

 spacious areas have been raised above tide-level or otherwise filled in with these animal structures. If there are 

 23,000,000 bushels opened annually in the United States, that is an equal measure of shells, and amounts to no less 

 than 24 !,390,000 cul)ic feet. IMore than half of these are devoted to this purpose, and would spread three feet deep 

 over a space more than 450,000 yards square, which would till in a very respectable shallow. 



The next largest portion of the emptied shells are converted into lime. Time was when no other lime was used 

 by the early colonists. It is my opinion, from a careful examination, that the oldest structure of civilized masonry 

 iu North America, the famous Tower of the Northmen, at Newport, Ehode Island, is laid up with shell-lime. 



