538 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



have been made, from time to time, in the way of labor-saving, from a simple crank and windlass 

 to patented complicated power-windlasses, similar to those commonly used ill the Chesapeake 

 boats. (See illustration.) When a proper breeze is blowing, dredging can be accomplished from 

 a sail-boat, with one of these windlasses, with much quickness and ease. In a calm, or in a gale, 

 however, the work must cease, as a rule. 



Under these circumstances, and as the business increased, it is not surprising that the aid of 

 steam should have been enlisted ; nor, perhaps, is the controversy which has ensued to be won- 

 dered at, since the introduction of novel or superior power into some well-traveled walk of industry 

 has ever met with indignant opposition. 



The first utilization of steam in this business, so far as I can learn, was at South Norwalk, 

 about 1870. This was followed by others, until, in 1880, seven dredging steamers were operating 

 in Connecticut waters. In their report for 1884 the shell-fish commissioners of the State enume- 

 rated no less than thirty-one, having an aggregate carrying capacity of 27,225 bushels, while 

 several new and larger ones are building. 



The growth of this fleet has been regarded with enmity by the great body of shoremen, who 

 looked askance at the rapidity and comprehensiveness of the work performed, and early began to 

 attempt to form public opinion and secure legislation tending to repress this dangerous competi- 

 tion. The first result of this was restricting steam-dredging on public seed ground in the sound 

 to two days of each week. Not satisfied with this, however, laws were sought which, if they did 

 not prohibit the use of steam altogether, should at least restrict it to the designated planting- 

 ground of the owner. The controversy which ensued then was long and bitter. At the time that 

 my special monograph on the oyster was written for the Census Bureau the discussion was at its 

 height, and I gave at length the arguments for and against, together with comments, to which 

 the reader is referred if he desires to go deeper into the question. A strong prejudice still exists, 

 so far as the employment of steamers on public ground is concerned. 



OYSTEK PLANTING AT SAN FRANCISCO. 



One of the most interesting phases of the transplantation of oysters is that by which San 

 Francisco Bay has been stocked from the Atlantic. 



The first experimental shipments were made about 1870, on the Alameda side of the bay, with 

 young oysters received by rail from New York. Though the growth was rapid, and the flavor unim- 

 paired, so that success seemed assured, it was not until 1875 that any San Franciscan dealers felt 

 justified in ordering large quantities, but in that year large shipments began, which have been 

 continued with regularity and slowly increasing amount every since, until now something like 

 $600,000 worth (adding freight to first cost) are annually transported across the breadth of the 

 American continent an almost unexampled movement of living food. The shipping season is 

 from the middle of October until the middle of November, and again from March 15 to the middle 

 of May. The oysters sent to California are all procured from beds in the neighborhood of New 

 York, and are of two classes : first, those of marketable size and designed for immediate use; and, 

 second, those intended to be planted. 



For the first purpose stock is selected from York Bay, Blue Point, Stateu Island Sound, Eock- 

 away, Norwalk, and occasionally from Virginia, and from Egg Harbor and Maurice Cove, New 

 Jersey; but the whole amount of this class constitutes less than one-fifth of the total shipment. 

 These oysters are either placed on sale at once in the California markets, or are " bedded down" 

 for a few days, to await a favorable sale. 



The class of oysters sent as " seed " is entirely different, and is derived chiefly from Newark 



