THE OYSTER INDUSTRY. 519 



and aloiig the edges of the sedge-plats and islands, oysters have always grown in great profusion. 

 In addition to this the bottom of the bay and of the Delaware River, from Cape May beach clear 

 up to and a little above Cohansey Point, at the southern end of Salem County, a distance of not 

 less than 50 miles, is everywhere spotted with oyster beds. The same is true of the opposite 

 (western) shore, which will be considered on another page. These oyster beds are not confined 

 to the shallow waters near shore, or to the sedge-plats, but are apparently scattered over the whole 

 bottom of the bay. Even the ship-channel, 90 fathoms deep, contains them, as experimental 

 dredging shows. Ou the western, or Delaware shore, the natural beds of oysters "rock oys- 

 ters" is the local term are confined practically to the shore "between the mouth of Mahon Eiver 

 and Bombay Hook. Though formerly far more productive, probably, than now, it is from an 

 area of little, if any, greater width that Philadelphia, and the States of Pennsylvania and Dela- 

 ware generally, have always obtained their oysters. Only portions of this bottom, which extend 

 over about 16 miles, are now productive when dredged, however, and the area is not increasing. 

 Though at all the little ports, and especially at Maurice Cove, a certain number of persons find 

 indolent employment in cruising about the marshes or tonging certain shallows after natural 

 oysters of marketable size, this supply is small, and probably does not exceed 10,000 bushels 

 for all of Delaware Bay, where a great business in cultivation of oysters has grown up. 



CHESAPEAKE BAY. It is not until the Chesapeake Bay has been reached, therefore, that the 

 enquirer can learn that the original wealth of oyster growth is still available for consumption and 

 export. Everywhere northward it has utterly disappeared, or else has been depleted to that 

 extent that its existence is preserved, only by legal protection, and its utility has been degraded 

 to the furnishing of " seed," which must undergo development on the planter's submarine fields 

 before it is fit for sale. 



The condition of the oyster beds and the conduct of the fisheries on both shores of the Chesa- 

 peake is very fully discussed on subsequent pages, and need not be descanted upon here. It ap- 

 pears, however, that despite the almost immeasurable extent of the original "rocks," the favorable 

 conditions of climate and situation, and the influences which have tended to spread the area of 

 oyster growth, there has been a steady decline in the fisheries, taken as a whole, ever since the 

 civilization of the country began ; and that those who understand the matter best see that the prac- 

 tical destruction of the Chesapeake oyster fisheries is culy a short distance off, unless less wasteful 

 methods speedily take the place of existing customs. Already the principal use made of Chesa- 

 peake oysters is as small seed, a matter not of preference or superior profit, but due to the difficulty 

 of getting oysters in marketable conditions and the growing demands of northern planters for half- 

 grown stock. 



NORTH CAROLINA AND SOUTHWARD. In regard to the coasts of the Southern States I need 

 add little more in this place than was suggested on preceding pages. From North Carolina to 

 Savannah the local trade, conducted largely by wagoners, who cart loads of oysters into the inte- 

 rior, is supplied by men in skiffs, who tong full sized oysters from the natural " rocks," a lazy 

 occupation lazily followed. In Georgia, especially in the neighborhood of Savannah, much plant- 

 ing is carried on, and the native growth is therefore gathered more for seed than for market, sloops 

 being employed as well as canoes and skiffs. Fernandina gets all the home oysters it uses from 

 beds over towards Saint Mary's, 10 or 15 miles distant, whence they are brought in small boats by 

 the negroes. On the west coast of Florida each settlement has its local bed, and no transplant- 

 ing is necessary ; but complaint is made at Cedar Keys, whence a large amount is sent inland, 

 that the best beds are becoming exhausted. The people attribute this to cold weather, but it is 

 doubtless the effect of excessive persecution within a too limited area. 



