62 SHELL-FISH COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT. [Jan., 
clude their families, probably 10,000 persons. There are 
about 400 sailing vessels and a dozen or more steamers 
used in the business. The value of the oysters on the 
private beds, and the total amount of capital invested in 
the business, can only be guessed at. 
The oystermen of Connecticut are divided into two 
classes: those whose work is confined to the natural or 
public beds, and those who work on their own designated 
erounds. The former class is by far the most numerous. 
Most of them gather stock from the natural beds to sell to 
planters in and out of the State. They go over the beds 
in sail-boats, each carrying one or more dredges with which 
they collect the oysters. The dredge is a rake about four 
feet wide, with a net-bag woven of rope and wire chain 
dragging behind it, its mouth kept open by an iron frame, 
so that when the oysters are lifted by the rake they pass 
over the rake into the bag. The teeth of the rake are 
about three inches long and pointed, and are set three 
inches apart. From the upper corners of the iron frame 
around the mouth of the bag are two iron arms about four 
feet long which converge and unite in a ring, to which the 
rope is attached by which the dredge is dragged over the 
bed. The tension of the rope shows when the bag is full: The 
drags vary in weight, being from eighteen pounds to thirty 
pounds each, according to the size of the vessel. The oys- 
ters are dredged up mixed with oyster-shells,jingles, gravel, 
cobbles, star-fish, and other marine creatures. It is labo- 
rious work, especially the handling of the dredge on sail- 
vessels; as it is drawn in by a windlass operated by hand. 
In favorable weather day after day through the season a 
hundred vessels may be seen at a time with all sail set and 
their dredges out gathering the products of the Bridgeport 
bed; and so on all the other natural beds, though in less 
numbers. Nosteamers are permitted on the natural beds. 
All the oysters so gathered are used for seed—none of them 
being large enough for food. They are sold to oyster cul- 
tivators, most of them for planting in the waters of this 
State. 
For many years, as already stated, the oyster men laid 
