1868, - - - - = - = - $1,814 40 
1869, - - - = = - = = - 1,949 15 
Ca 7S CSA et 0 eR Se ae 2507/40 
1871, - - - - - - - : - 2,186 63 
1872, - - - - - - - - #1 2.772605 
a7 Bo | ve ee ale en eR El? (ose ts) 
1874, re = Fe > e a "3 E a 4,997 05 
1875, - - - - - - - - = 1276 00 
1876, - - - - - - - - - 5,300 00 
1877, - . - - - - - - - 6,045 2 
1878, - - - - - - - . - 6,582 go 
1870, - - - - - - - - - 7,860 00 
1880, - - - - - - - - - 8,190 00 
1881, - - - = - : - = =!) 9333090 
1882, - - - - - - - - - 9,850 00 
1883, - - - - : = : < - 10,312 00 
1884, estimated, - : = = - = - [11,000 00 
About 11,000 acres are now occupied by private beds, which yield 
annually about 1,000,000 bushels of oysters, valued at $1,500,000. 
The total area of cultivated ground in Connecticut in 1882, under 
State jurisdiction, was 9,007 acres, according to the tax list of that 
year. The area then cultivated under town jurisdiction is not 
known, but an average of the various estimates given would make it 
at least 2,000 acres. This would make the whole area of Connecticut 
in 1882 about equal to that of Rhode Island in 1884. During the 
last two years, however, our area has been largely extended and there 
are probably not far from twenty thousand acres under cultivation 
to-day. There were 216 owners in 1882 against 290 in 1883, and the 
number increases annually. Of these owners only five have five acres 
and under apiece, twenty-two have between five acres and twenty 
acres, apiece, and the remaining two hundred and sixty-three have 
twenty acres or more apiece. With few exceptions most of these 
owners are practical oyster-growers, and they have bought the grounds 
with the design to cultivate them, and there is good reason to believe 
that inasmuch as the industry in Connecticut has, in less than ten 
years, attained a growth equal to that of Rhode Island in twenty 
years, its prospects of a still greater development in the future are 
excellent. 
It is noticeable that with the increase of the oyster industry, 
steamers are fast taking the place of sailing vessels. Every year new 
steamers appear on the grounds. While the sailing vessels are sub- 
ject to the winds and tides, and can work only in pleasant weather, 
