TIIK OYSTEK INDUSTRY. 531 



lively work is doiie. During all day of September 30, and during the niglit, schooners, sloops, 

 cat-boats, sail-scows, trim yachts, and shapeless, ragged tubs, have gathered there, chosen a spot 

 out of what was left of the space, and anchored. Once the anchor down, no movement elsewhere 

 cau be made. Each sail-craft tows behind it one or two small scows, termed " garveys," and has 

 upon its deck one or more small skifl's, or perhaps those ingenious ducking-boats peculiar to this 

 region, called "diukies." So massive is each year's growth that the first day's work is likely to yield 

 100 to 150 bushels of seed to the man on the most favorable ground, but by the end of a week most of 

 the tonguien have found it no longer worth their while to work. The owners of the extensive 

 planting interests in Barnegat Bay do not come here, but supply them selves mainly from the Cedar 

 Creek beds, nearer home. 



A crop approximating 250,000 bushels is harvested every year from the planting of this home 

 seed along the ocean-shore of New Jersey, but the arrangement and meager care of the beds call 

 for no special remark. The growth is, iu general, rather slow, and the product not yet, on tbe 

 average, of so high a quality or cash value as that of either the Delaware or Earitan shores of 

 the same State. 



THE EARITAN DISTRICT. Passing northward to the Earitan district, we shall find beds of 

 transplanted native oysters maturing upon the shallows all the way from Sandy Hook to Perth 

 Amboy and half engirdling Stateii Island; and that there, as elsewhere, this branch of the busi- 

 ness is gradually superseding tbe growing of southern "plants." 



But this planting of native seed-oysters in New York Bay is an old industry. In 1853, for 

 example, it was stated there were at least one thousand men employed in cultivating "York Bays" 

 for the purpose of shipping them. "The hardness of their shell and the peculiar saltness of the 

 meat render them better adapted for shipping than any others, and they are, therefore, used almost 

 wholly for the western trade. The boats employed in transporting them from the North Eiver and 

 Newark Bay to the artificial beds are open, and are each generally manned by three or four 

 men. * * * These men work in sloops and skiffs owned by themselves. The owners of each 

 boat are also proprietors of one or more beds planted by themselves. There are about two hundred 

 boats, altogether, each of which is valued at an average of $800." 



It is added that one-third of all the seed planted at that time came out of the North Eiver, 

 from beds " which extend at intervals from Piermont to Sing Sing," where the growth was said to 

 be exceedingly quick and abundant. Now the chief source is Newark Bay and Earitan Eiver, 

 though the North and East Eivers and Long Island Sound are drawn upon. A considerable quan- 

 tity of seed is also brought from as far away as Fair Haven and Blue Point. In most cases the 

 planters themselves gather what they use, by going after it in their own sloops, taking a small 

 boat and a man to help. Not a little is procured at home, especially in the vicinity of Keyport. 

 This grows on soft mud and in sedgy places, and hence is long, slender, crooked, and ill-shaped. 

 Planted in from 10 to 15 feet depth of water, purer, salter, and upon a better bottom than before, 

 it rounds out into good shape, and grows with considerable rapidity in good seasons. The 

 best bottom is a thin layer of mud overlying sand, and the best time for planting is in March, 

 April, and May. 



By the end of May all work upon the beds ceases, beyond taking up an occasional boat-load 

 to supply the weak summer demand. The condition of the beds is watched closely, however, by 

 the anxious owners, since it is the midsummer months that determine whether the oysters will 

 report themselves "good" in the fall, or the reverse; which means a profitable business, or the 

 opposite. If the season is hot, equable, and reasonably calm, all is expected to go well. Heavy 



