338 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



whose operations are more extensive than their own. There is one firm, for instance, which 

 employs the services of eighteen or twenty men nearly all the time, and in some seasons largely 

 increases this number. These smaller planters sell their little crops of from 100 to 1,000 or 1,500 

 bushels to the half a dozen shippers, chief among whom are the Hoyt Brothers and Mr. G. Bell, 

 wisely preferring cash, at a small discount, to the trouble and risk of themselves taking their 

 oysters down to New York, or elsewhere, in hopes of a slighty larger price. 



"The total production of this locality, during the season of 1878-'79 (the preseubseasou, 1880, 

 will probably be found not greatly to differ from it), is given at about 65,000 bushels. 



"These oysters, as I have said, were the property of fifty planters, which gives an average of 

 1,300 bushels to each one. It is probable, however, that as many more persons got their living 

 out of these oysters, from first to last, so that I do not hesitate to say that one hundred families 

 in South Norwalk and its immediate vicinity are supported by the cultivation and sale of oysters 

 there. The estimate of two hundred families, which I have often heard made, is undoubtedly too 

 high. This question is ever a hard one to answer, because, in many cases, the head of the family 

 depends only partially upon his professional means of support, the attention he pays to it and the 

 income he derives varying with each good or bad season. Most oystermen are also farmers or 

 fishermen. Many of them also keep summer hotels, and thus add largely to their income during 

 the dull season at the beds. 



" Every supposed available spot for oyster operations, probably, is now set apart for that pur- 

 pose, not only inside of the Norwalk Islands, but also in the outside waters of the sound off the 

 mouth of the harbor. Only a portion of this is in use, however; in all, about C80 acres out of 2,300, 

 in round numbers, which have been designated in Norwalk harbor. The average production at 

 present, therefore, is less than 100 bushels to the acre of land actually cultivated, and only about 

 28 bushels to the acre of bottom held for the purpose of oyster cultivation. I see no reason why 

 future years ought not to see ten times as large a proportion. 



"The fleet of Norwalk used by the oystermen in their business consists of two steamboats, a 

 dozen sloops, and about thirty sharpies and sail-boats, of less size and value than the 'sloops,' most 

 of them being without decks. Besides this there are skiffs innumerable. This disparity in the 

 number of large sloops between so important a place as Norwalk and some of the small ports 

 westward is explained by the fact that the planters here do not often themselves take their goods 

 to New York. 



"From a particular part of Norwalk harbor, many years ago, came to Tom Donan's famous 

 old shop in Broad street, New York, the original ' Saddle-rocks,' named from the reef around 

 which they grew. These oysters were so large that twenty-five would fill a bushel basket, yet they 

 were tender and luscious, and often sold for from 15 to 30 cents apiece. But they were not very 

 numerous, and the raking of them was so profitable that the supply was quickly exhausted. Like 

 the generous host who gave them name and fame, they have long ago departed except from the 

 branding-iron and sign-board of the dealer, whose 'Saddle-rocks' now may have come from any- 

 where except Norwalk. 



"That is the story as I was told it at South Norwalk ; since writing it I have seen an article 

 on the subject, taken from the New York Observer and vouched for by the Rev. Samuel Lock- 

 wood, who speaks of the writer as 'our friend, Dr. O. R. Willis.' This article places Saddle Rock 

 on the opposite shore of the sound. It reads thus : 



" ' The original Saddle rock was not only very large, but possessed a pecnliar, delicious flavor, 

 which gave it its reputation. And it received its name because it was discovered near a rock 



