558 HISTOET AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



Packed so as to prevent injurious jarring, and stowed in the extreme forward part of the 

 vessel, where they keep cool, the mollusks cross the Atlantic in excellent shape. No time is lost 

 in getting the oysters, when packed, into the steamer, and many are taken in sloops directly from 

 the producing points to the steamer's wharf, and thus escape the bother and expense of a second 

 or third handling in New York. 



Some American firms have regular agents abroad who care for and dispose of the oysters sent 

 to them. In other cases they are consigned by the shippers to commission merchants on the other 

 side. Liverpool has been the great receiving point for Great Britain, because it was the nearest 

 port. It was found that the extra time required, and the port charges on cargoes sent direct to 

 London by steamer, more than overbalanced the slight saving effected in freight over those 

 forwarded by rail from Liverpool. The amount of oysters sent each week, though not large, has 

 sometimes been more than could be disposed of before the next shipment arrived. To provide 

 against loss in this contingency, the l.irgest dealers own spaces of sea-bottom, where the surplus- 

 age is thrown overboard to keep in good condition and drawn upon as required. Some thousands 

 of barrels are sent annually, which are intended to lie and grow there from one to three years. 

 American oysters laid down thus in foreign waters have never been known to spawn, so far as I 

 could learn, but the conditions have never been favorable ; and no experiment, that I am aware 

 of, has been tried to ascertain whether seed oysters from the United States, properly planted, 

 would not grow into good health, emit spawn, and establish their race upon the European coasts. 

 I see no reason why such an experiment should not prove entirely successful. 



The prices received for American oysters sent abroad have been very various, ranging during 

 1880 from 5 to 40 shillings a barrel. Leaving out the various deductions necessary, it is consid- 

 ered fair to estimate $5 to be the average cash return to this country for each barrel. At this 

 rate the stated total of 63,300 barrels (about 175,000 bushels) would net the United States no less 

 than $316,500 in gold, an amount which would by no other means be brought into onr pockets, 

 and which enriches the country by so much, since the value exchanged for it does not, in any 

 degree, impoverish the country, but is a product of labor which would not otherwise be employed, 

 and the disposal of a product not otherwise to be used. 



In my monograph I gave precise statistics of exports of oysters from 1864 to 1880. This 

 showed a steady gain. In 1864 the export amounted to only about $85,000; ten years later it was 

 near $2.",0,000, and 1880, over $460,000. (Jf these almost exactly one-quarter was sent to Canada, 

 leaving about $360,000 worth to be sent to Europe, and, in trifling quantity, to Mexico and the 

 East Indies. Nine-tenths of the whole transatlantic traffic is from New York to Liverpool. In 

 1880 the total number of barrels exported was 63,300, containing about 190,000 bushels, or, count- 

 ing 1,200 oysters (a low estimate) to the barrel, no less than 76,000,000 by count. The general 

 opinion at New York is that European demand will increase steadily, while there will not be an 

 overplus of stock here, since the East River beds are slowly failing and are more and more required 

 for a seed supply. The shippers are, therefore, hopeful of profitable prices in future. 



EASTERN NEW ENGLAND. Passing now to the marketing of oysters in eastern New Eng- 

 land, the first point to be mentioned is New Haven, as having anything more than a merely local 

 trade; but here the business is almost wholly that of shipping opened raw oysters, the details of 

 which appear on the next page.* The same is true of New London, Providence, New Bedford, 



*" Four grades are recognized by the Connecticut oystermen : ' Cullentines,' two years and three months old; 

 ' Culls,' three years old ; ' Boxes,' four to six years old ; ' Extras,' live years old and upwards. The first aud second 

 are used principally for stews, and are sent to market, without the shell, in cans and kegs. The third and fourth aro 

 sent out generally in the shell in hags, boxes, and barrels. Natives are in the greatest demand and bring the best 

 prices. The supply rarely equals the demand. When the stock of natives is exhausted resort is had to the choice 

 Virginia plants that have been a year or more in Connecticut waters." (Rep't Conn. Shell-fish Com'rs, 1881, p. 65.) 



