438 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



tifying or improving it. It is too often the case that tongers, especially many of the negroes, who 

 comprise about one-third of the total number, will work only one or two days at a time and then 

 remain idle until necessity forces them again to earn a few dollars. By others, however, tongiug 

 is pursued as steadily and systematically as the wind and waves will allow, and when this is done 

 I think it may safely be said that the remuneration is equally as fair as in other trades. Those 

 who pursue tonging in this way form the most intelligent class of oystermen in the State. In some 

 cases farmers and others holding prominent social positions may be found oystering during several 

 of the winter months when their legitimate business does not require close attention. 



Tonging necessitates very great exposure to the cold, but is, however, hardly as severe in 

 this respect as dredging, and moreover the tongers suffer less from the fact that they are generally 

 better clad than the dredgers and seldom work either during very cold or very windy weather on 

 account of the smallness of their boats. From this cause I find that even the industrious ones 

 will lose on an average at least two days out of every week, and when the time wasted by the idle 

 ones is taken into account it will be found that one hundred and twenty days out of an oyster 

 season of eight months is about the average length of time for each tonger. In this actual loss of 

 at least one-half of their time may be seen the cause which prevents the tongers, as a class, from 

 making any improvement in their financial condition, upon which depends their social position. 



While seeking information from the county clerks as regards the number of boats licensed, 

 I also requested answers to the following questions with a view to obtaining home opinion upon 

 the character of the tongers: No. 1. What is the moral and social condition of your oystermeu? 

 No. 2. What is their occupation during the summer months? 



In answer, I received the following from Somerset County : No. 1. The oystermen, as a class, 

 are generally poor men residing near the water-courses, living in and mostly owning small houses, 

 with an acre or so of land, or less, attached to their premises, and in morals are equal to any body 

 of men similarly situated. No. 2. In the summer oystermeu work on their lots and do some job- 

 work for their wealthier neighbors; but it is still to be feared that much of their time is unem- 

 ployed. 



From Worcester County : No. 1. Of a rather low order; some of them good as to morals, but 

 a large majority reckless and improvident. No. 2. Most as day laborers ; others cultivate small 

 parcels of lands. 



From Dorchester County : No. 1. As a class, only fair. No. 2. Most of them have small truck- 

 farms to cultivate. 



From Saint Mary's County : No. 1. Fair. No. 2. Fishing and agriculture principally. 



From Anne Arundel County : No. 1. Unable to answer the question, but believe they compare 

 favorably with other industrial classes. No. 2. Crabbing and bedding oysters. 



Tonging, although generally confined to shallow water, is in some of the tributaries of the 

 bay carried on in water varying in depth from 18 to 20 feet. Engaged in touging there are 5,148 

 men, using 1,825 canoes or other small boats. To obtain even an approximate average of the 

 amount of money made by each tonger is almost impossible, but I think it will be very near correct 

 to estimate it at $225 a season, at which rate the total amount made by the tongers would be 

 $1,158,300. Many of the larger boats are held in joint ownership by two or three parties. 



