214 Our Food Mollusks 



— not a thorough-going one, by any means — at reform. 

 " A prophet is not without honor, but in his own coun- 

 try, and among his own kin, and. in his own house." 



The record of the decline in the Chesapeake since 1885 

 is very incomplete, but that kept by the transportation 

 companies and the packing houses of Baltimore indicates 

 its nature. During the season of 1885-6 more than three 

 and a half million bushels of oysters were shucked in the 

 city of Baltimore. In 1889-90 the number had fallen 

 below two and a half millions. In 1893-4 it had de- 

 clined to a little more than one and a half millions. For 

 the next four years it remained nearly the same, and 

 hopes began to be entertained that the low mark had been 

 reached, and that the natural beds of the Chesapeake 

 would continue to yield a harvest of at least that amount. 

 But in 1 899- 1 900 the supply hardly exceeded a million 

 bushels, and the following season fell below the million 

 mark. Since then the same steady decrease has been 

 maintained, if more slowly, yet none the less certainly. 



This falling off in the business of the packers was not 

 due to any increase in what is called the shell trade, 

 or to the establishment of new packing houses elsewhere, 

 but simply to the fact that the natural supply of the bay 

 was nearly exhausted. It was stated by the railroad 

 companies that during the decade between 1890 and 

 1900, the shipments of oysters in the shell had decreased 

 three-fourths in volume. 



But the decline was even more rapid than indicated by 

 these figures, for in 1889 the Baltimore packers began 

 to send dredging vessels down the coast to Pamlico 

 Sound in Xorth Carolina, where they taught the un- 

 sophisticated native oystermen something about the 

 dredging of oysters, and incidentally nearly ruined the 



