A CHESAPEAKE INDUSTRY. 341 



SALMON, FRESH AND SALTED. 



One Boston house sells annually 10,000 bbls. salmon, the fresh 

 and salted fish averaging per bbl. $38 $380,000 00 



100,000 bbls. herrings, cured and smoked in the manner of Yar- 

 mouth bloaters, $10perbbl 1,000,000 00 



THE OYSTER INDUSTRY. 



Of the delicious bivalve which " gets out of bed to be tucked in," it is impos- 

 sible to arrive at an appropriate estimate of all which are canned for the 

 interior trade, and those sold in the shell for consumption in the Atlantic 

 States ; but of the trade from Virginia to Massachusetts, it is computed 

 by the largest dealers in the industry that about 50,000,000 bushels are an- 

 nually sold at 50 cents per bushel $25,000,000 00 



The following, copied from the Baltimore report of the in- 

 dustry in that single city for the past year, may give some 

 idea of the importance of this crustaceous bivalve : 



OYSTERS AND CANNED GOODS. 



This trade has been in fair activity throughout the year. The number of 

 houses prosecuting it now reaches about seventy-three, of which some forty 

 are strictly in the packing trade. The hands employed equal probably 5000 

 of both sexes in the various departments of shucking, packing, peeling, pre- 

 serving, etc. Six to eight million bushels of oysters are consumed, one third 

 of which are packed raw, and the balance hermetically sealed. The cans re- 

 quired for these reach about 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 of half to one gallon 

 each, and require say 300,000 cases to pack them. The balance of the oys- 

 ters, say some 4,000,000 bushels, are put up in hermetically sealed cans of 1 , 

 2, and 3 pounds each, of w r hich during the active season some 80 to 100,000 

 cans are daily packed," so that some 12 to 16,000,000 of cans are required for 

 this trade annually. It is estimated that some $14,000,000 to $16,000,000 

 are invested in this interest in and around Baltimore, and that the annual 

 product is worth some $6,000,000 to $7,000,000. 



The number of vessels said to be engaged in that business 

 on the Chesapeake is over 1600, which give employment to 

 more than 6000 persons. Had the trade to California contin- 

 ued, the industry would have been greatly augmented ; but 

 in that land of abundance fishes of nearly all kinds are more 

 numerous than on the Atlantic coast, so that there salmon is 

 too common for food, and the sardine canning industry bids 

 fair to supersede that of the Mediterranean. 



