742 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [60] 
The oyster industry is conducted in North America very much as it is 
in England. In protected muddy bays and mouths of rivers near the 
coast, great quantities of young oysters, which have been taken from the 
natural beds, are planted for the purpose of fattening, the method thus 
resembling that in vogue at Whitstable and at other places along the 
west coast of Europe. In North America places are also chosen where the 
oysters will be protected from frost and heat. In localities rich in food 
they arrive at marketable size in from two to three years. The North 
American oyster is a different species from that of Europe. Its scientific 
name is Ostrea virginiana. It is longer from the hinge-ligament to the 
shell-muscle than is the European oyster, Ostrea edulis, and the left 
valve is generally more curved than with our oyster. Very few efforts 
have ever been made in North America to catch and grow oysters arti- 
ficially according to the French system. The natural banks produce 
such an abundance of young oysters that all the beds artificially planted 
ean be abundantly and cheaply supplied from them. During late years 
the North American beds have furnished an annual average of about 
thirty million bushels of oysters for market; this is about nine to twelve 
billions of oysters, since there are from three to four thousand oysters 
in a bushel. In 1859 the number of oysters sold amounted to from six 
to eight billions. 
The principal markets fer North American oysters are New York and 
Baltimore. In 1867 there were over 10,000 men employed in the oyster- 
trade in Baltimore. The yearly capital employed in this business in New 
York was, about 1870, over $8,000,000.* |The North American oysters are 
so fine and so cheap that they are eaten daily by all classes; hence they 
are now, and have been for a long time, a real means of subsistence for 
the people. This enviable fact is, however, no argument against the 
injuriousness of a continuous and unprincipled fishing of the beds. The 
size of the territory over which oysters are found, and the number of in- 
habitants, must not be left out of account, however, if a right judgment 
would be formed in regard to those great sums which appear in the oyster 
statistics of North America. The territory of the North American oyster- 
beds is of very great extent, comprehending the greater portion of the 
east coast of the United States. Oysters occur from Cape Hatteras, in 
North Carolina, to the mouth of the river Saint Lawrence, and Chesapeake 
and Delaware Bays are especially rich oyster localities. In the United 
States there are now 52,000,000 of people; in Germany, France, and 
England, altogether, over 109,000,000. Hence, in Norti America, with a 
less number of inhabitants, there is a much greater supply of oysters 
per person than there is in Europe. But as the number of consumers 
*Tu the following works will be found more detailed statements in regard to oyster- 
culture in North America: 
P. de Broca. Etudes sur Vindustrie huitritre des Etats-Unis. Paris, 1865, 
Spencer I’, Baird. Report on the condition of the sea-fisheries of the south coast 
of New England in 1871/72, Washington, 1873, Oyster-beds, p, 472, by A. E. Ver- 
rill. 
