2io THE OYSTER. 



borders of the Quinepiac River, near New Haven, 

 Connecticut, have been the scene of oyster operations. 

 The earliest settlers found on its shores great mounds 

 of oyster shells, which showed that the Indians had 

 resorted to its beds, season after season, for an un- 

 known period. The first white fisherman found nat- 

 ural beds scattered over the bottom of the whole river, 

 as well as in favorable areas along the eastern shore 

 of the harbor. All of the beds were easy of access, 

 and the result was that the raking of oysters was soon 

 adopted as a business by many persons who lived near 

 the water, and a considerable retail peddling trade was 

 thus kept up throughout the neighborhood, in addition 

 to the home supply. Wagon loads of opened oysters 

 traveled in winter to the interior towns, even as far as 

 Albany, and thence westward by canal. 



These beds continued to supply fine oysters for all 

 the inhabitants of the surrounding country for many 

 years, but they have long been worthless as a supply 

 of food, although they still yield small oysters, which 

 are used as " seed " for planting. The beds were ex- 

 hausted by tongs, and it is interesting to note that 

 nearly all of the oysters were removed in a single day 

 in each year. After the beds were closed by law until 

 November I, great crowds assembled on the banks of 

 the river, on the last night of October, and at the 

 striking of midnight by the town-clock, began an attack 

 which cleaned the beds of most of their marketable 

 oysters before the end of the day, and a few hours of 



