INTRODUCTION. 



This book (for which I have been asked to write an 

 introductory note) is written for the information of all 

 who care for oysters, — no matter whether their point 

 of view be that of providers or consumers, — of the 

 oysterman, the money-maker, the housekeeper, the 

 legislator, the editor, or the student of natural history. 

 So well is the book written that many parts of it are as 

 fascinating as a story. 



The facts that have led to its preparation are these. 

 After many years of plenty; Maryland is in danger 

 of an oyster famine. The supplies which nature bestows 

 most bountifully have been so treated that scarcity now 

 takes the place of abundance, anxiety and alarm have 

 followed security. Authentic figures showing the de- 

 cline and fall of the oyster empire of the Chesapeake, 

 startle all who consider them. It is not only the 

 dredgers, the dealers, the shuckers, the packers, the 

 coopers, the tinners, and the carriers, that are to suffer 

 if this state of affairs continues, everybody in Mary- 

 land will likewise suffer more or less. An important 



